Necessary Roughness
by sanzopriestess
Summary: Kate is special to the Kidd Pirates first mate. She annoys the captain to no end. And she's stuck on the ship until they reach the next island. With a knack for trouble, sleep walking and asking horriable questions, how will she fare aboard this punk-rock theamed ship? Will she survive the whole week with these pirates and Captain Kidd?
1. Out of thin air

"Killer-san!" A high-pitched voice screeched, turning the heads of just about every Kidd pirate above the deck and leaving those below wondering if something had happened to their captain, or if some demon had possessed some other member of the crew. Slim legs hooked around the unprepared man's waist, thin arms wrapped tightly around his neck and a pair of lips peppered the blue and white mask with joyful kisses.

The shocking thing was that her head had yet to roll. It wasn't rolling across the bloodstained deck even though the blades were out and pressed to her neck. The only that fell to the deck was large mess of white blonde hair that landed silently at his feet.

Before he could utter a placid, would be monotone apology a door was thrown open with a loud bang, the angry words "What the fuck?!" soon followed. Narrowed red eyes scanned the deck for anything out of the ordinary, for anything that could have made that god-dammed noise. He quickly found what he sought, and surprisingly enough it was attached to his first mate. A small body was clinging tightly to his tall frame. "Who the fuck is that Killer?" His eyes narrowed at the small back.

The arms around his neck slackened until interlaced fingers at the base of his neck were the only things keeping the girl up as she leaned back, her legs clutching tighter to him than before. He had put his blades away after realizing who the small blue-eyed blonde was. "Who me?" She 'innocently' asked, as if it weren't obvious where the red-haired man's anger was directed. Killer had the sudden urge to face palm. Was she still trying to pull that act? Well she would soon see the effect it would have on the Kidd pirates and of course Kidd himself.

"Yes you wench." He growled at her. Whatever patience he might actually possess on a rare good day was making itself scarce, per usual. Kidd's patience was a very allusive and fickle thing and after that screech, now was no different. His scowl and narrowed eyes were no longer aimed at her back. But instead at her grinning widely, upside down features. Her smile did nothing to brighten the angry pirate captain's mood, if anything it made it worse as her smile did not waver.

Instead of answering she let go of Killer, with her hands at least, bending back until her fingertips, and then palms reached the ground, before she released his waist and in a relaxed manner kicked away from Killer, landing on her feet. She ran both hands back through her now short hair; fluffing it and shaking loose any loose strands as she cast an unreadable look at the fallen blonde locks. Looking up she smirked at Killer before saying "Thanks for the haircut. I've been meaning to get one- not this short, but thanks anyway." With that she turned towards the scowling redhead. She took a few steps closer until she stood within arms distance from him, a space almost all of the crew members could have covered in three or four strides had they started where she had.

Behind her Killer stood tense, waiting for his captain to hurt the girl, which was something he couldn't allow.

"I'm Kate." She beamed at him, holding her hand out between them, as if Kidd looked like he'd be charitable enough to simply shake her hand.

"And what might you be doing on my ship Kate?" Kidd spat her name at her, ignoring her outstretched arm. How the hell had she even gotten on it in the first place? They were in the middle of the ocean for god's sake and this girl comes out of nowhere to attack his first mate.

"Oh, that? That's easy, I'm here to-" A hand clamped over her mouth and she turned her attention away from the pale redhead only to see Killer.

"I'll handle this." Killer said as she began to answer in a way that wouldn't bode well for her. It was as though she hadn't heard the violent intent, the growled hint that if she didn't answer correctly she would be as good as dead. "I'd like you to keep your life Kate." Killer knew his captain and his sister well enough to know that if he let this conversation play out its natural course without his intervention their personalities would clash and she was going to be the one to get the short end of the stick. She was after all a small petite girl, only around five foot, four inches without a devil fruit ability. And he was a man of six foot eight inches with a devil fruit ability. She would be the injured one of the two Killer could almost guarantee it.

"Aw, come on." She whined only after he removed his hand from her mouth, surprised that she hadn't instantly licked it to remove it from her mouth. "I can take care of myself."

"There's a huge gaping void between you and Kidd." He tried to explain without spelling it out for her.

"I don't see one." She snapped back, putting her hand up to shield her eyes like a visor and looked around before she asked, "What is this said chasm between us?"

"Experience." He grumbled, well aware of his captain's snide sneer aimed at Kate, who stuck her tongue out at Kidd. He took note of his captain taking great efforts to restrain himself, most likely because he was in the way, not that he wasn't a removable obstacle in his way to get to the girl.

Before Kidd could rip off her head, or she could throw any punches Killer lead Kidd back into his office and didn't speak until he was impatiently asked "Well, who the hell is she Killer?"

How had she even found them- no scratch that. They probably had a very easily tracked trail of islands and she had simply predicted where they were going next and had intercepted them before they got to the next island, that or she just happened to pass the ship. Or maybe she had done something insanely stupid and didn't even know how she had landed herself here. All three were quite possible, the later more than then others. "My little sister." He said, watching Kidd carefully.

If Kidd was somehow surprised by those three words, he showed no sign of it as he leaned back and kicked his feet up onto the desk. "And how long does she plan on staying?" If he had his way she'd have died the second after she let out that wretched scream. Depending on his first mates response, she might live to see tomorrow.

"Until we reach the next island." Killer answered, though he doubted that Kate would obey.

"She's your responsibility." He growled. The next island was a week away- maybe, just maybe he'd be able to put up with the girl and allow her to live that long on his ship.

Maybe, but it was doubtful.

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A/N: Hello, readers of fanfiction. This is not my first story, however it is my first stab at a Kidd only fanfic. So I hope I get his personality right. See I usually mold the oc's personality to somehow fit with a cannon character (usually the one she winds up with) then add the story around her. Well I did that . . . sortta. I did that with the wrong cannon character. ^_^U

Thoughts, opinions? Feedback?

All three are greatly appreciated.


	2. Fighting conversations

A/N: Did I forget the disclaimer? Dude I think I did. Aaaw man! I'm sorry Oda . . . readers. I'm sorry.

One piece- belongs to Oda. Killer and Kidd also belong to him. Kate belongs to me . . . . that's about it.

Is everyone satisfied now? Good.

I sure hope I got Kidd's personality right.

Thank you so much girl-luvs-manga for catching those mistakes. I have fixed them. And yes, eventually it will be kidxkate. . .eventually.

Also thank you matchboxluffy for your review.

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Killer nodded, taking the hint and slipped out of the room, leaving his captain to himself. He scanned the deck, but saw no sign of his sister. "How did it go oniichan?" A voice asked coming from above him. He looked up to watch her flip off of the crow's-nest and land happily on the railing of the quarterdeck with a wide smile gracing her lips as she perched there.

"Don't go anywhere near Kidd if you value your life." He warned.

"Hey, will you give me intel on your captain? I forgot to look him up and research him and the important things about him." Any smart person researched the pirate crew they were trying to catch.

"What important things?" He tested his sister.

"Well for beginners, his personality, devil fruit- assuming he has one-, style- fighting style I mean. Any tidbits of information on the overall crew, their strength, the ship and its layout and anything else I can find really. But ya know I've got to know how dangerous my big brothers boss is before I pay you a visit." She smiled after passing Killers test then added, "He sure doesn't disappoint. He radiates grrr. So," She leaned forwards and inquired, ", are you going to tell me?"

"Find out yourself." If Kate wanted the information, she had to work for it. He wasn't going to just hand it over.

"But brother dearest that contradicts what you just said." There was a moment of silence, a rare thing with Kate, between the two siblings before she leaned forwards a bit more and with another smile asked, cocking her head to the side "Hey, can we spar?"

The people still on the deck, either paused, looked sharply in the direction of the girl's voice or subtly turned their attention towards them. But whatever the reaction, they were all thinking the same thing; she's as good as dead. Silently, as if to answer her question, Killer slid into a relaxed fighting position. Was he really going to take the girl seriously? They wondered watching as she gracefully flipped off the rail. Just seconds after the balls of her boots touched the deck, she lunged at him, a wicked smile on her face- it almost matched Kidd's when he surveyed his handiwork on an island before they left it in ruins.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've faced someone actually worth my time?" She asked, starting the one main difference between the siblings fighting style. Killer hated it because it left glaring holes in her defense, and was simply a distraction all around. Killer preferred to be silent, and focus entirely on his opponent; calculating reactions and finding their weaknesses. "Three years big brother." She said with an exasperated voice. "You're the only one I know for sure that I cannot beat." Killer rolled his eyes- not that the movement was seen, but she sure felt his foot connecting with her open side, sending her flying. However, he had trained his sister well and she used the momentum to land against the wall in a gravity defying position before pushing off and rocketing herself towards him. He dodged with ease but she reached out, grabbed him by the arm and used that momentum to swing herself behind him, throwing him off balance that he regained before she could make another move.

To them their high speed and acrobatics were normal, nothing out of the ordinary. But to the crew, to see someone- let alone a girl- being able to match Killers speed and fight him on the same level as him, it left them all gaping form from the safe places they had retreated to when the fight had begun to take over the deck. No one wanted to get caught in the crossfire of their attacks. "I missed you, if you couldn't tell." She admitted.

Not at all. He sarcastically thought to himself. After such a warm welcome it was hard to tell that she had missed him.

After all, she had clung to him like a desperate woman. "I miss these conversations too." She offered him yet another smile, as she stole one of his scythes from their sheaths at his waist. "What?" She questioned innocently before grumbling. "Don't give me that look." What 'look' did Kate believe he was he giving her under his mask? "Come on, stop toying with me, or I'm going to find that meanie you call your captain." So she knew he wasn't really trying. When had she caught on, or had Kate known all along? She quickly adjusted her strength and speed to match Killers. Well Kate could never actually match it, but she could do a damn good job at keeping up and faking it.

Breathing became more difficult and sweat glistened on their skin. It had been awhile since either of them had worked this hard against an opponent. Usually it was a swift victory for both brother and sister alike.

"Speaking of your captain-god he's a loud one." She said as he blocked a blow from his own hand scythe. Killer pushed her back, sending Kate sliding away from him, leaving dark skid marks on the deck. She stood still for a minute and asked "I mean he even looks loud. I mean that hair," She made wild gestures around her head "What does he do, sleep upside down? It's absolutely gravity defying!" Killer patiently waited for the eccentric girl to attack him again, not bothering to respond as her chattering started to move more towards ranting. It was then Killer knew he was going to miss those peaceful fights the Kidd Pirates seemed to often get themselves into. At least he was going to miss them while Kate was here.

Killer was however listening to his sister, rather interested to find out more about the first impression Kidd had left on his little sister. Now that he thought about it, they were both the same age, twenty one- or something within a two to three year range of that number. He was four years older than her, meaning that Kate was in fact twenty one years of age now. Killer had left her back at their home island three years ago at the capable age of eighteen, and he had lost track of time since then. Kate however, seemed to have not changed a single bit. "And those god awful pants!" She exclaimed breaking Killer from his thoughts as she threw her hands up into the air, as if she thought he was hopeless. "Leave it to a man to pick something like that out and then actually wear it! Those things should be collecting dust somewhere!"

Killer had a hard time not letting laughter pass through his slightly curved upwards lips, because of her wild gestures and expressions. However she was insulting his captain at the same time.

"And the jacket-" She shook her head after completely failing to dodge a blow to the head. "Never mind, that thing looks deliciously warm and comfy- wouldn't you say Killer?" Killer was definitely not going to respond to that question.

However, he knew that Kate had a thing for large clothing. If the sleeves went past her fingertips, fantastic. If the bottom of her pants collected at the tops of her combat boots- awesome. Actually it was rather interesting that she was wearing form-fitting jeans and a simple white shirt that cut off at the midriff. Maybe her style had changed?

"And his lips! Does he wear lipstick, lip stain or something else?! Men shouldn't do that! Would it kill him to get some color? Jeez, he's so pale. I buy white paper that's darker than him!" So it would seem that Kate was not too impressed with his captain. But then again, maybe that was a good thing. "How do you put up with that . . ." Whatever insult she had been about to fire died on slowly on her tongue as she trailed off. Killer quickly surveyed the deck to see if Kidd was anywhere to be seen-anywhere within hearing range, but he failed to see Kate's problem. "Never mind. I respect your decision and won't badmouth your superior. After all, I'd send you to the nearest medical personnel if you bad mouthed my superior." She cheekily smiled at him, as if knowing she was near crossing that line that every person had. That line that when you crossed, you had better hope you were ready for the consequences of having done so. And Kate, well she was teetering oh so dangerously on it. "So do you think I passed his test?"

"No." Killer finally answered, just this once. After all Kidd had probably only seen an annoying, unwelcome girl, clinging to him like a devil fruit user to a flotation device in the middle of the ocean. In order for Kate to 'pass his test' she would have to do something great, that or Kidd would have to look more at her skills then at how she was bound to annoy him at that given moment.

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Thoughts, opinions? Feedback?

All three are greatly appreciated.


	3. Tempting Kidd and Fate

She stopped almost instantly and huffed, simply dropping low to the ground so that Killers attack and counter attack both missed. "Any why not big brother?" He shook his head and she sighed, understanding that he wasn't going to respond any farther than that. "I like you captain's taste though," She smiled once more before flipping behind Killer. "Very exquisite." Kate's smile grew even wider. "And the crew- from what I have seen, they've got a punk-rock theme going on, right?" Kate was quiet for a few blissful moments before asking "He's a whips and chains kind of guy right?"

For once Killer faltered for real, her question catching him off-guard. He dropped down to one knee, not trusting his legs to fully support him after what just came from his sisters lips. He looked up staring at his sister through the holes of his mask. Had he heard right? Did his baby sister just ask if his captain was a whips and chains kind of guy? And what the hell did Kate know about whips, chains and men- no scratch that- Killer did not wish to know the answer to that. The watching crew wondered if the small yet fearless blonde had somehow managed to take Killer down. Maybe she had a devil fruit power. What else would explain what Killer was doing kneeling on the ground as if physically wounded?

"Killer?" She questioningly asked as she cautiously approached him. "Big brother, did- I didn't hurt you did I?" She examined her borrowed weapon. There was some blood on it from nicks and scratches, but none of them had been worthy of the honor of taking her near invincible older brother down.

"No, don't be ridiculous." He muttered pushing himself to his feet.

"Does this mean that we're done?" Kate asked, trying her hardest to not look disappointed. They had only gone at it for real, for less than thirty minutes.

He nodded and then announced, "I'm going to show you around."

She nodded as he turned around to begin to show Kate around, only for a heavy weight to land on his back, arms to wrap around his neck and legs around his waist. "Am I still too old for a piggyback ride?" She almost whimpered quietly into his ear.

At that Killer realized just how wrapped around Kate's finger he was. He frowned at the idea, however it was only Kate, meaning he could live with it. If anyone else whimpered for a piggyback ride before (or after) jumping on his back, he'd have killed them on the spot. "Maybe tomorrow."

The arms around his neck, tightened into a hug as the words "I love you Killer." were mumbled into his ear. She rested her chin on the top of his shoulder bone.

"I know." With that he continued walking, down into the ship. He showed her every important place she should be aware of until they reached the next island. She wound up falling asleep somewhere between the artillery room and his room.

Sometimes it was good to be the second highest seat of power-especially when your little sister was staying. There was no way in hell Killer would allow or force Kate to spend her numbered nights in the barracks of the ship with the rest of the Kidd pirates. Hell would have to freeze over, and even then it was unlikely that Kate would be sharing living quarters with anyone else besides himself.

He ripped back the covers of his made bed, carefully lay her down on his bed, covered her up before he leaned down to kiss her on the forehead only to remember his mask- as if he could forget. So Killer settled on tenderly running his hand back through her now short hair before he turned and walked out. After all it was only noon and there was work to be done.

Unfortunately word had gotten around about the blonde girl and the way she had greeted and acted so familiar with Killer and the crewmates had their hunches about who she was. The smart crewmembers stayed silent, not wanting to face Killers wrath when he caught wind of what was being said. Not that they cautioned the other members against anything, they just discussed how Killer would react, guessing whether or not heads would roll. They even began putting money on it like the not so smart Kidd Pirates.

Kidd ran a hand up his face, getting rid of any remaining traces of sleep before he stepped out of his quarters and going to check their course. The rays of dawn had cracked across the sky, the top arch of the golden, not yet blinding, sun peeked over the horizon. The black night sky was fleeling the light, and all was silent other than the sound of the crashing waves. Sluggishly he climbed up to the quarterdeck, only to stop short.

In his throne like chair that rested before the metal wheel, was a blonde. A small, petite slightly snoring blonde. Red eyes narrowed at the sight. She was sleeping so peacefully on his throne, as if she owned it, as if it were hers. Both legs spilled over one of its arms, her torso and upper body fit almost perfectly in just the seat, and the other arm was being used as a pillow or headrest. A single pale arm dangled off the side, back of her hand resting on the deck- it was a surprise her arm was long enough to reach, Kidd mentally scoffed- the other rested on her stomach. Kidd let out a dark chuckle, she was blissfully unaware of the danger that loomed over her.

An angry snarl then slipped out of Kidd's mouth before he reached forwards and buried his large calloused hand in her short, soft hair. Her blue eyes popped open with a satisfying amount of surprise as he clenched his hand into a fist, dark nails gratifyingly scraped against her scalp. The girl then let out a satisfying noise of pain, her hands scrambling to try and remove his hand from her hair as he pulled her off his throne and threw her off the quarter deck before collapsing into the now warm seat himself.

It was his, and she had no god-damned right to be in it.

Damn that man had nails! Sharp ones too! What kind of man didn't have bitten, in horrible condition fingernails?! Kate wondered, though not aloud.

From the lower deck, Kate sat up, frowning at the strands of hellfire red hair that were visible form her vantage point, as she massaged her aching scalp- the one thing Killer hadn't hurt. Her muscles were sore from that 'fight' with him yesterday. It had been forever since she had such a good work out, since she had to try so hard to not get hit. Too tired and too achy, Kate simply lay back down in the place on the deck she had none too gracefully landed. Kate just rolled over and closed her eyes.

Was he mad at her because she sometimes sleepwalked? If so, that wasn't fair. As Kate thought this, she was already well on her way back to that dream she had been having.

Kidd watched the sunrise at an agonizingly slow speed, with his ankle on his knee, chin on his fist, elbow on one of the arms of his throne, thinking as he did so. How that little wench was related to his first mate, Kidd would never know. This was the second day and she was already starting off bad. He only had a week , seven days, to put up with her and then she'd be gone. For Killer, he could try and not kill the girl, but he never promised a damn thing to anyone. Kidd considered warning Killer that his sister might not make it through the week, but he figured that he already knew.

Kidd stood to go find something else to do, something more entertaining. Their course was fine, he'd of course check it later, but for now he was bored and had better things to do. He walked down the stairs, as if he had all the time in the world. Only to stop a few feet away. There she was on the deck, in his way, yet again sleeping soundly, only this time, a small smile played across her lips. Kidd scowled down at her peaceful figure. Of course he could always walk around her, the deck was more than large enough for him to do so, or he could simply step over her- but why should he have to? She shouldn't be in his way to begin with.

Kidd could kill her, right now and he wouldn't even need the pistol or the dagger he had on him. He wouldn't even have to bother with his devil fruit power either. He would simply bring his boot clad foot down on her chest, cracking her ribs, possibly puncturing her lungs. Or he could do the same thing to her head, crush her skull beneath his foot- either way, it would be the end of her.

Killer woke up with the other half of his bed empty and cold. He jerked into a sitting position and checked the ground on the other side of the bed before he allowed his mind to wander where Kate was, or the trouble she had managed to get herself into. Killer calmly searched his room, but his little sister didn't turn up, so the next possibility was- well anything. But he was going to ask Kidd if he had seen her before he looked anywhere else. He went down the dimly lit hallway, up the stairs and then onto the deck only to see Kate laying there, Kidd looming over her. Killer could see the wheels turning behind his eyes, contemplating what he should do to remove her from his path.

At this rate Kate wasn't going to live to see Wednesday, let alone the end of the week.

Killer sighed heavily. She was only sleeping, he couldn't wait to see the kind of trouble she'd get into when she was actually awake, and conscious of her actions. "Kidd." He said, approaching his captain, bringing his focus up from the girl and to him.

"I told you she's your fucking responsibility." Kidd growled at his first mate. "If she gets in my way one more time. . ." Kidd stepped over her, letting the threat speak for itself. Killer knew very well the things Kidd could and would do to Kate if he wished, or she pissed him off enough.

Killer sighed heavily yet again and picked up Kate's' limp body. As if sensing that she was in safe arms, she curled into his chest and snuggled into him. It was either that or he was producing enough body heat that she could feel it through both their clothes and her unconscious state, and just wanted to get closer to it. Once in his room, after he had laid her down again, Killer woke her up.

"Two more hours." She grumbled in a hardly audible voice. Five to thirty minutes was the amount of time normal people requested before having to be officially awake and starting the day- but that was normal people, and this was Kate, she wasn't people, just Kate.

"Now." He persisted. Killer considered pushing her off of his bed, but figured he'd be nice to her.

Even then, the speed in which his baby sister took to fully wake up was amazing. First she stretched and slowly her eyes fluttered open before she propped herself up on her elbows, looking annoyed as she rubbed her head. Killer had half the mind to ask whether it was a headache or something else that was bothering her. But even though he needed to keep an eye on Kate, he wasn't a doting, over protective brother, she could take care of herself- he had made sure of it. "What oniichan?" She stretched yet again, drawing the word oniichan out with her yawn.

"I told you to stay away from Kidd." He had been serious. Kate had the ability to easily get on Kidd's nerves, and Kidd wouldn't hesitate to kill her or at least harm her in some way shape or form.

"Actually, you said to not go anywhere near him if I value my life." Kate corrected him.

"Even if you don't value your life, I do. Meaning I don't want you waving it around in Kidd's face, tempting him and fate. Because neither of them are forces to be reckoned with." Killer said. Sometimes Kate was such a stubborn pain in the ass.

"But I still need that information on your captain. So far all I know is that he's a loud moron who throws people off of his things." She frowned and Killer decided not to ask. God only knew the answer was predictable, but something he wished not to hear.

"Get it at a later date. Just stay out of his way."

"And if he gets in mine?" She asked.

"Don't be stupid." That covered a lot of ground with Kate. It included, but was not limited to, acting rather childish, being prideful, engaging in an argument that would most likely get heated, especially if it was with Kidd, and acting fearless.

"When am I ever stupid? My actions may not be fully planned out and I may tend to say what I think, as I think it, but I don't see the stupidity of those things."

"Don't do anything dangerous." Killer added. Stupid and dangerous went hand in hand, they were best friends. However Kidd was even better friends with dangerous.

"That's not fair big brother. We're on a pirate ship."

Killer got up- done with playing Kate's game. He had things to do, work to get done. He was aware of the footsteps following him. Everywhere he went, those footsteps followed him and they did so for the next few hours. On the deck Killer turned around to face Kate, who stopped suddenly and wordlessly. She cocked her head to the side after following his pointed finger to the crow's-nest.

"What about it?"

"Look out duty." He explained. He was tired of her silently following him. While it was true that while she did this she was staying out of trouble and anyone else's- namely Kidd's- way. However, she was beginning to annoy him. Plus there was only so much trouble a person could get into up in the crow's-nest, only so many peoples way she could get in up there.

"What?" She gasped with obviously feigned shock before she breathlessly asked "You make your guests work?"

"Guest, don't make me laugh. You're an unwelcome trespasser." Killer none too gently broke it to her, but it wasn't something she didn't already know somewhere within the confines of Kate's mind. "We both know that it's due to sheer luck and a big miracle that you're still alive." Though it was far too soon to release their breaths, this was only her first official, full day on the ship.

"Well if that's what I am. . ." Kate grumbled.

"Kate." Killer sternly warned, not playing into her hands, not starting this game with her. He wasn't currently in the mood to do so. She let out a heavy sigh, deflating as she released the breath, silently signaling that she had momentarily raised the white flag.

"Just look for anything such as marines, other pirates or drowning idiots' right?"

"Precisely." He curtly said before walking away. Or maybe she hadn't.

Kate sighed, she should've known that he wouldn't react to that last one.. Killer just didn't do jokes, especially not stupid, silly ones while he was sober. A drunken Killer. . .still didn't like her lame jokes even then. "Aye-aye captain." She muttered saluting him before climbing nimbly up to the crow's-nest and relieving the sleeping pirate from his duty.

Somehow Kate knew that if Killer knew that the pirate was sleeping, he'd be in trouble. Meaning that it wasn't acceptable for her to sleep either. Her brother had expectations for her and Kate intended to live up to them. He wasn't the type to yell at you for failure, or disappointing him. Depending on what it was he'd either go about daily life as if nothing had happened, but you still knew he wasn't happy- god that ate Kate up each and every time he did that to her. He'd either do that or if it had been during training, he'd make her work at it until she couldn't move or until she succeeded, whichever came first.

For a while Kate watched the vast ocean for any signs of life, but after five minutes she got bored and lay back. She cloud watched, finding pictures such as a fluffy white boat- quite ironic considering the cursed, depressing thing she was on. She saw other things such as an alligator eating a rabbit, a smiley face with a very deformed mouth, a birthday hat, an explosion mushroom cloud and other dissipating oddities that could only be seen if one was bored enough, or was trying really, really, REALLY hard to find an entertaining picture in the fluffy white masses of white. But eventually, after several fleeting glances over the sides of the crow's nest, between each interesting cloud Kate found, she became uninterested, such brainless activities weren't suited for Kate, but she had a job to do.

However, after looking around her aquamarine colored eyes locked on a head of bright 'caution I might have a temper' red.

Before she could think of hesitating, or letting that small voice in the back of her head that oddly enough resembled Killer and the way he thought, talked and reasoned with her , could begin to talk and begin a mental argument with herself, Kate climbed to stand on the three or so inch thick rim of the crow's-nest. Her feet were angled so that more of them touched the swaying with the ship wood and therefore she was able to keep her balance- god only knew that the fall would be comparable to being thrown after a rude awakening by an asshole- unpleasant was the word to describe both.

She wet her lips with anticipation that rose up, higher and higher in her chest. Before she bent her knees and front flipped into the empty air, not adding any fancy flips or spins as the blue sky somersaulted around her. The weightlessness of such a high jump thrilled her, intoxicated her, it was addicting. It was these moments, those few precious ones while you were airborne that were the reason Kate loved acrobatics.

Coming down from her high, Kate landed on the rail of the quarterdeck with a jolt- back to reality. Her hands gripped the rail in her now perch like position from atop the railing.

Her target was in sight, blissfully unaware of her.

But if he were anything like Killer, a simple BOO! while someone touched them, wasn't going to startle him, just annoy him and possibly convince him to end her life sooner than the fates wanted to take it.

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A/N: You can thank the longer chapters to M. mellow. Who was just being whiney about the short chapters. But I listened and lengthened them.

Also thank you for all of your wonderful reviews! I love you all.

Thoughts, opinions? Feedback?

All three are greatly appreciated.


	4. I've got a question

Going over it, this chapter kindda sucks. In my opinion at least. Maybe you will like it . . . I don't know.

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Kate scaled the back of the captain's throne, she leaned over so that her upper body hung over the man. The only disadvantage of this position was that he could all too easily reach up and pull her down into his lap. Kate smiled and in a chipper voice said "Hello Mr. Boss man."

If she had startled him he showed no signs of it as he leaned back, tilting his head back with a none too pleased scowl, before he sneered the words "Back for more already?" Of course she didn't know how close he had been to ending her fragile life, how close she had been to being reduced form a nuisance to just another bloodied, broken body, just another bloodstain on his deck.

"I have a question." She announced after a moment, breaking away from the staring contest those narrowed ruby eyes had ensnared her in after he had spoken. She had completely forgotten about his question and therefore Kidd was disappointed to not hear what response she would have given him. He didn't respond to her announcement, not verbally at least. His facial expression spoke volumes to Kate though. Anger- or maybe it could be better described as irritation, rolled off of him in waves, like the ocean rolls off a sandy beach. But despite this emotion radiating so strongly off of the man, Kate couldn't help but notice that if she were to lean down, or get pulled down- whichever happened first- their lips could touch, in other more obvious words they could kiss.

Well that was certainly one way for her to figure out of he wore lipstick or lip stain, but she didn't care to find out at the moment. "Actually I've got a lot of those." Kate quietly mused to herself, thinking aloud. Most of her question included his god awful pants. She also wanted to know what in god's name had possessed him to buy those pants, and then match that blue sash with them. Others included his finger nails, why they were so long and painted to boot. Seriously, Kate was beginning to doubt his manhood, even though he lacked a shirt and was obviously a well-built man and - Kate shook her head at that not liking the direction of her thoughts, shaking them loose before they could get any farther.

"Are you going to make me wait all day?" Kidd grumbled at the girl hanging over him, blocking the sun and the blue sky from view. If she made him wait much longer, he was going to hurt her, which he wasn't against doing, woman or not. He had no qualms about it, but the annoying girl was Killers sister, so Kidd would try and refrain.

"I'm trying to think of the best way to ask this without insulting oniichan, because I'm about ninety-eight percent sure that he's. . ." She trialed off and paused for a second before asking, "You see, due to several indicators, and contributing thoughts, I have come to this conclusion, are you into guys?" His hair must take hours to get it styled like that, his nails were painted, it appeared that he wore lip whatever- whether it be stain, stick or gloss, there was something on them. Then there were his wardrobe choices, which were something to be desired- except that jacket of his. It was huge, she could wrap herself in it several times and it looked deliciously warm and cozy. God Kate just wanted to rip the fabric off of the man's body and run. Well Kate didn't want to run for her life, but she would have to after actually following through with that plan.

However, she didn't have time to dwell on that or begin forming plans because she watched his scowl deepen, a growl pull itself from his throat- very animalistic. She thought to herself, watching as his face turned fifty shades of red. She was too busy watching his facial expression, his eyes that Kate failed to see his arm lifting up to grab her.

She didn't however fail to feel the pain of thick, painted fingernails scrape against her scalp for a second time, leaving a trail of sharp pain that began quickly dulling, and then there was that whole hair pulling thing that hurt too. He pulled her head closer to his face and growled, "Excuse me?"

She had one fucking chance to redeem herself. Fortunately, for Kidd and his entertainment, he was betting that she wouldn't be able to do so. And he was already thinking of the things he would do to her to make her regret asking that question.

She let out a whimper and winces before managing to spread a think flimsy smile across her lips and asking "Are you deaf? I wasn't under the impression that devil fruits impaired your hearing too." Kate was just winging it when it came to him having a devil fruit. But hey, what could she say, Killer had refused to give her the information she wanted about the redheaded man inches from her face. "I asked you if you were into guys. And haven't we already been through this hair pulling- ow." His fist clenched tighter, nails grating slowly across her scalp, only adding to her forming headache. He smiled widely, joyfully at her but she continued, not taking the hint, not heeding the warning signs. "It's getting a bit old. You know you seem like the type to change thing up every single time you do something." She paused and wondered if he were trying to glare a hole into her brain through her eyes, or maybe he was trying to gouge her eyes out with those figurative daggers he was glaring at her. "So because I love my brother, I'll tell you right now, he's straight. I'm only about two percent unsure, but I'm sorry to have to be the one to-" With that Kidd had had enough and Kate was ripped over the back of his throne by her head, by her hair to be more specific, the sky somersaulted around her in a blaze of bright blue and streaks of white. But unlike before, it wasn't pleasant or even remotely likeable.

Her body landed at his feet with a loud thud, knocking the breath out of her lungs. Kidd smiled she was going to get it. He had been keeping track while he had let her talk, waiting to see how deep, she was doing to dig her grave.

Black spots of unconsciousness suddenly invaded into her vision and she tried instantly blinking them away. Unfortunately blacking out because of a hard fall was a sensation that Kate wasn't a stranger to. After all, with all of those times jumping form from the roof of their house, tree branches, any high place their town or island had to offer that allowed more time in the air was tried at least once. More often than not Killer had carried her home, sometimes she had been conscious enough to get a miniature lecture consisting of 'you're stupid' or 'don't try that again'.

He had let go of her hair and was sneering at her. "Sorry, I didn't quite hear that." He was daring her to say it again, with a wicked smile that was cracked across his face. He was obviously as pissed as hell, and that damn grin made it all too clear to Kate. But something besides her words was making him smile like that down at her.

Unfortunately for Kate, she didn't back down from dares, never had, never planned to- unless they were too stupid or a waste of her time. Pride had a lot to do with it. Kate had her pride, just like every other self-respecting male on this ship did. She pursed her lips and after taking her time to straighten to her feet she said "It's unfortunate that my brother is straight and male. I'm sorry you have to find another partn-" With that Kate was slammed into something after a big meaty hand wrapped around her throat, fitting there as if it belonged there, lifting her up, squeezing the breath out of her.

Kidd tightened his grip, cutting off more of her supplies. He had the satisfaction of watching her face turn another shade of blue as she clawed at her hand, digging her nails into his skin, scraping them across it as she failed to get a grip and remove his hand, or even loosen it slightly. She flailed her dangling legs fruitlessly and Kidd couldn't help but asking "Who's laughing now?" Kate didn't look like she was having a good time, but Kidd, ha! Well he was having a grand old time. Why hadn't the girl bothered him sooner?

"Not you, not when Killer sees you over my dead body." She wheezed, exhausting the last breath of air in her lungs. They burned, throbbing, begged, were pleading for another breath, another gasp of air, for the pressure on her throat to be gone. But Kate, unlike her lungs, wouldn't beg him for anything. "I guess this means you aren't into guys?" She offered a smile; it was weak and wavered on her lips. It wasn't at all pleasant, but Kidd liked it, the way she was acting. He found her silent desperation satisfying; a million times better than the fuckers that pleaded until their last breath for their lives.

His grip tightened even more, not long after that her body convulsed, her nails stopped digging into his skin, her legs swung below her but were no longer trying in vain to reach him. Her head lulled slightly forwards.

Kidd let a frown pull down the edges of his mouth. That had been too easy. He suddenly opened his hand releasing his hold on her throat; her body fell to the ground at his feet and after watching her for a few silent, very still minutes, he was uninterested now that all the fun had disappeared. She was no fun if she were unconscious. Kidd pulled his foot back and kicked her away from him.

It was a damn shame she had caved so easily, however a small smile stayed glued to her lips as she rolled away from him, coming to a stop on her side, limbs not too sprawled out. Kidd stood, debating whether or not he wanted to wipe that smile off her unconscious lips, and if so, how would he do it?

Killer emerged through the door to the deck, which was too quiet. Had he been mistaken? Looking around he realized, no he hadn't. Kate lay there, facing Kidd, looking as if she had hit the rail of the side of the deck and had been knocked unconscious. Kidd was lounging in his chair, keeping a bored eye on their course, looking as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

He made his way over to Kate. Killer knelt down and put two fingers on her neck. She wasn't militated- but there could be a few reasons for that. Killer thought to himself. She had a pulse, which was good. Standing he went over to his captain, having checked on his sister and asked "What did she do?" No doubt, it was Kate's fault. It could have been the way she looked at him, all the way up to something such as a straight out challenge. Or perhaps Kidd had already in a bad mood when he had encountered her. Either way, he was now in a neutral, almost good, mood.

"The bitch fucking asked me if I was gay!" He growled a response.

As funny as that was, that wasn't funny at all. Killer thought to himself as he felt a smile began to spread across his lips. It was a damn good thing Kidd couldn't see his face. "I wonder how she reached that conclusion." Killer purposely wondered aloud.

"Like hell I know."

"Thank you for not killing my little sister." Killer said walking back over to Kate. Kneeling down he checked for anything serious, such as dislocated or broken bones or anything else just as worrisome, because just because she had a pulse it didn't mean that she was in a good condition. Fortunately, it didn't seem like Kidd had damaged her too greatly, or had even done much more than somehow knock Kate unconscious. "I apologize for my sister." He added before using his foot to open the door wider and taking Kate back to his room.

He sighed heavily, relieved that Kidd had shown not only restraint but also mercy while handling Kate. Had some strange girl asked him if he were gay, that girl would be well on her way to the afterlife. He knew all too well that Kate could be a handful. Killer lay her down in his bed and went back to what he had been doing earlier, the reason for him having gone to the deck forgotten.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	5. Dinner

Kate woke up feeling sore, again, and this time it wasn't her fault for wanting to spar with her brother. No, it was because she had been yet again dragged around by her hair, then her body slammed into the ground- which was not soft!- and then choked until she was concisions. All for trying to strike up an innocent conversation with the man. Sitting up Kate frowned and looked down. She didn't remember getting hit, kicked or thrown against anything that came near coming in contact with her stomach. However there was a large bruise, about the length of her fingers on her stomach. It was tender, just like her hair- or maybe it was her scalp- and the only reason she noticed it through all of the other pain signals her brain was sending was because when she sat up, it hurt more than the other things. Well that excluded the headache that made the room spin as it pounded gleefully through her head in a beat that matched her heartbeat. But despite this, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and went to the door. As she wondered out, she ran into just the person she wanted to talk to. "Hello oniichan." She smiled, ignoring how the moving of the muscles of her face hurt, as she waited for him to respond.

"Stop being stupid and thoughtless Kate." He said, not in a growling tone, but in a firm, I want you to listen, I'm not joking, tone of voice. But then again, when did Killer ever joke?

"What other explanation was there?" She defensively asked, knowing that he knew what she had asked the aggressive redheaded pirate.

"You asked him, directly in more or less words." Killer stated in a way that his voice asked 'what the hell were you thinking?' without him needing to utter the words.

"Yes, I did. Did I scare you?' Kate asked, momentarily considering his feelings. How he must have felt having to pick up her limp, possibly dead body. If Kate had to do that to Killer- not that she thought for a second that she could actually pick him up- she'd kill whoever had done that to him in the first place.

"I've told you once before, and I'll tell you again. Stay away from Kidd. I do have my reasons for not wanting you two around each other."

"Oh, and what are they?" Kate challenged. In reality, she just wanted to hear his reasoning, understand his logic. His reasoning was probably logical and of course not outrageous like Kidd's pants. It's just that she wanted him to tell her, in plain words exactly why he didn't want her to be around Kidd. Kate wrapped her arms around herself and tried not to wince as her hand accidentally collided with her tender stomach.

Killer let out a heavy sigh and said "I know you won't listen to me, even if you understand my reasons and where I'm coming from."

Kate stomped her foot, much like the child Killer knew she could sometimes be, but wasn't. "Yeah, so? I won't listen to you either way, so why not tell me big brother? Maybe I can at least keep some things in mind."

Killer caved, simply because this wasn't a fight he wanted to fight. It wasn't worth it arguing with Kate. "You and Kidd," He slowly began. ", your personalities are like fire and water, they simply clash. You and Kidd will also never retreat; you're both far too prideful. One of you will always end up injured, hurt and eventually dead. And I told you yesterday, even if you don't value your live, I do."

For a few seconds they stood silently regarding each other. Of course Kate was the easier of the two to read. She didn't have x-ray vision, so she couldn't see his masked facial expression, however, Killer was legible too, and there are other ways to read people other than their facial expressions. Kate knew this well, after all she knew how to read his body language quite well, even when they were standing still.

Finally she made the first move. Kate shifted, ran a hand back through her short hair and asked "When is dinner?"

"Soon." Was all Killer offered her.

"Care to elaborate?" she grumbled giving him an annoyed expression.

"A few hours." Her face fell at his words. That wasn't soon at all, not in her book. Not when she was so hungry.

"I see. Can I take a shower after dinner?"

"No one is stopping you."

"Except my sense of direction in a new place." She muttered, toeing the ground, watching herself as she did so. It wasn't too bad, but she hadn't seen over half of the ship.

"I'll show you after dinner." Killer said.

"Thank you." Kate hugged Killer and stood on her tiptoes before catching his smooth, cool, mask between her hands and pulling him down to her level and kissing where she assumed his forehead might be. She then suddenly released him and turned away, but not before asking "Oh, hey, can I borrow a shirt?" He nodded. And she smiled in response. "I love you big brother." she said before deciding that she didn't want to walk away. So instead she turned around to face him, taking slow steps his direction before finally wrapping him in yet another hug. Kate had missed him so much during his few year absence in her life. And even though she had gotten along just fine without him, her and Killer had been close. Pulling away Kate smiled at him again and said "Sorry to worry you. But I assure you, there is nothing to worry about." Then with that she went to think somewhere, someplace she wouldn't be bothered and somewhere she couldn't bother anyone else.

She kept to herself and the place she had found until dinner came around. She was starving and had been for a while. Kate had slept through that day's breakfast, been knocked out through snack, or lunch and had missed dinner yesterday!

After grabbing her food she sat across from Killer, who sat loyally next to his captain, and was currently being glared at by a pair of red eyes. She had finished in record time, three minutes. Shifting her eyes away from the pale face, and to the blue and white mask of her brother, she leaned forwards and hissed "Killer." She was embarrassed that she had scarfed the food down that quickly, it couldn't have been pleasant to watch, but she wasn't making any of the pirates watch her, so it was their problem. But since she was a young woman, she felt that she should have dignity and grace while eating. . . Or did that only apply to women who weren't starving? Well it didn't quite matter now. When his mask turned her direction less than a quarter inch, she knew that she had gotten his attention efficiently. "Can I have your food?" He wasn't eating it, just picking and moving things around the plate like a child. And she had the feeling that if she asked Kidd, he'd gouge her eyes out with his fork.

Killer simply pushed the plate to the other side of the table and therefore in front of Kate. Both captain and first mate watched as she tore into the no longer steaming food. She gulped the new food down, hardly chewing, it was unhealthy and once Killer said so, she slowed down considerably. Killer glanced sideways at Kidd, stiffly watching his movements for a minute or so.

"Thank you." She said gulping down another bite, one of the last.

He wondered how long it had been since Kate had eaten. She didn't usually have this big of an appetite, and certainly never ate like this either. It wasn't although her life depended on finishing the food she had requested from him. Killer knew it didn't, Kate looked perfectly healthy-taking into account her encounters with Kidd- meaning it hadn't been too long, maybe a day or so? But he wanted his theory confirmed by her, otherwise he'd worry and be concerned about why her eating habits had suddenly changed. "Kate." he slowly said. She looked up, looking as guilty as hell with a food muffled 'what?' as she did so. "Why are you so hungry?"

"It's partially my own fault." She said gulping the food down before continuing. "Partially his." Kate pointed an empty fork at Kidd, who glowered even harder at her, but made no sudden movements to harm her. However it was more than likely that Kidd was planning Kate's demise though.

"How so?" He asked, receiving an exclamation as to why she had been stuffing her face like Jewelry Bonnie right after she licked the plate cleaned-literally.

A few minutes later, after having finished explaining, clearing that little problem up, and having yet another staring contest with Kidd, Kate stood and said as she walked past him "Come on, let's go take that shower." She lingered there until he too stood and then lead Kate back to his room. Killer wasn't oblivious to how perverted Kate's sentence had been, though she meant no harm by it . . . he hoped. There was the large possibility that she had meant for her words to sound as they had, after all, Killer was more than confident that Kidd had heard what she had said, loud and clear. He opened the drawer of a dresser and pulled out a neatly folded clean shirt, one identical to the one he was wearing, before leading her to the shower.

"Try not to take an hour." He requested of his sister who had a tendency to take longer showers and even longer baths.

Kate smiled. She was awfully smiley today, Killer thought to himself. "Forty five minutes and I'll be out." She looked down then slowly back up, looking up at him through her eyelashes before quickly muttering something that he didn't quite catch.

"Pardon?" He asked. "Slow down please." That's a word not many people heard the Massacre Soldier say.

"Can you please stand guard? Y-you know so, no-no one walks in on me." Her face was bright red, as if she were embarrassed to have to ask this of him. Killer had a feeling that his sister had one person in mind as she asked this of him, and that person would be sneering, and possibly leering at her, had he heard her ask this of Killer. He didn't want to though, he had better things to do then to stand at a bathroom door. But on the other hand, what better things did he have to do then protect his little sister? He nodded his consent and she went into the bathroom.

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I'm sorry that's all I can get tonight. Well as always I hope you have somehow found some enjoyment in this chapter.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	6. Kidd's Jacket

Kate looked around the room surprised to see a bathtub. A bathtub among men! It was a miracle! There was also a showerhead, but a scorching hot dip in the tub sounded like a little slice of heaven on earth on this dark pirate ship. Ok, so maybe forty-five minutes was a bit of a squeeze. She thought as she turned the water on and beginning to fill the tub. Kate stripped off her white shirt, yanked he boots off, and threw them at the door as well as her not so white socks, before wiggling out of her precious jeans anyway. Last was anything under that, all except the silver chain that circled around her neck. A pendant hung in the middle of her bare chest, it was a simple heart locket. One that she hadn't removed once in the past three years. Kate ran her fingertips lightly over the warm metal surface before she turned off the water and stepped over the side of the tub. She sunk up to her chin, let out a deep sigh as the hot water began working its magic. After the sigh was released, Kate sunk even farther into the water. She leaned her head back, god that hot water felt so good on her poor abused scalp.

Steam filled the room, fogged up the mirror over the sink as it spilled over the side of the tub from the surface of the water. Kate closed her eyes, trying to remember the last time she had felt so relaxed. Somewhere between trying to think, and being unable to recall, she almost fell asleep. She had slipped into a half asleep, yet aware of everything sort of state of mind. And stayed like that until she realized that she only had forty-five short minutes and had yet to even begin cleaning herself. With a groan of displeasure, Kate aroused herself form the groggy state of mind, cleaned her body and hair before she finally stood. After drying herself she scrunched her face at the undergarments, but she wasn't about to ask killer for a pair of underwear, so she slid those back on, none too happily before putting on her pants and finally Killers shirt. It was blissfully big, the sleeves were too long and the hem reached her thighs. Slowly Kate buttoned it up before towel drying her hair.

A knock startled her, making her visibly jump. "Yes?" She asked not giving whomever the chance to speak first.

"It's been an hour." A voice announced. Kate looked at her shriveled up hands as she wiggled her toes, which she knew were the same as her hands.

"You said I had no longer then an hour."

"You also said you'd only take forty five minutes." He said through the door. "But I though it wise to give you extra time."

"Love you oniichan." Kate called. "I'm done anyway." With that, she unlocked the door and stepped out, holding her boots in one hand. Both her socks and her shirt were stuffed inside of them.

The moment she stepped out Killer reached forwards and buttoned the next three buttons of his shirt swiftly. It may be ok for him to wear his shirt with those buttons undone, but it sure as hell wasn't ok for Kate to wear it like so. He watched as she frowned, pulling at the tight bust. It was then that he somehow knew that those buttons weren't going to stay buttoned long. "Am I dismissed?" He asked her.

"No need to be so formal." She waved a small hand, the cuff of his shirt flapping around as she did so. "But yes, thank you for both your food and look out duty. I think I'm going to go to bed." That bath had certainly made her tired. It was as if all of her energy had been sucked out, as if she wanted to do nothing but sleep, to go into hibernation.

Killer nodded and walked off.

Kate padded slowly to Killer's room. Once there she crawled into his bed after unbuttoning two of the three buttons that Killer had done up, putting her boots in an unused corner and slipping out of her pants, in which she threw into that corner on top of her boots. She snuggled up in the thick comforter and drifted off to a beautiful sleep.

She had pleasant dreams. Unfortunately, she was rudely awoken by putting her cheek down on something sharp as she settled into another position, the other half of the bed cold and void of her older brother. With a sharp glare down at her had been fluffy pillow, Kate saw a golden spike, three actually, protruding from the worn dark brown leather. However, maroon- more red than purple- fluff had created the fuzzy pillow. Kate sat up excitedly and looked around her as the covers of her brothers bed fell around her waist. It was wrapped around her torso and her arms were covered with sleeves even longer then Killer's shirt.

Was this what she thought it was?!

Kate hopped out of the bed; well she wound up face planting into the floor because the long thing was wrapped around her legs too. Scrambling up Kate smiled down at the good foot and a half of fabric pooling around the back of her feet. The shoulders were supposed to cover wide, strong and muscular shoulders, but Kate had normal sized shoulders for her height, so the jacket nearly came to a close at her front.

When had she gotten this?!

Kate knew for sure that she had not fallen asleep in Kidd's jacket- even though she had been right about it all along. God, it was perfect, even more heavenly then that bath after dinner last night. It was over sized and comfy, cozy and fuzzy, there was no way it could get better than that.

Kidd remembered having put his jacket over the back of the chair at the messy desk in his room. Before scanning the dark room, messy floor, cluttered dresser, end of bed and just about any other place a jacket such as his could have disappeared to in the duration of the night.

It was gone; it was as simple as that. Which meant that there was no other possibility, it had been stolen. And that thought summoned only one name, and the imagery of a smiling blonde's face. Kate was the first name to pop into his head. When he found that bitch he was going to- he didn't care as long as it taught her not to mess with his stuff. With that pleasant thought, Kidd stormed out of his private quarters in search of the little girl.

All Kidd had to do was keep her alive.

Kate didn't consider that an angry pirate captain would be stalking around his ship, hunting her as she happily ate what remained of breakfast that had been over for a few hours now. His jacket trailed behind her and all the crewmembers she passed had the same expressions of surprise as she passed them. The same thought passed through all of their minds, had captain really let her borrow his jacket?

She finished and headed out of the galley. As previously stated, the jacket was a slice of pure heaven. It even smelled good- sortta. There was the irony smell of blood, of course, sweat- this was a man's jacket after all- and something that Kate couldn't quite place- cologne maybe?

It wasn't that Kidd was pissed that his jacket was stolen- he had more in his closet- but was pissed off that the little bitch had the nerve to steal it from him. That she had snuck into his room in the middle of the night and stolen it.

Kate continued walking around, trying to better acquaint herself with the lay out of the ship as she wondered why she had Kidd's jacket in the first place. Surely, he hadn't come into Killer's room and covered her with it- the idea was weird and far too nice to have been acted out by Kidd. So maybe she had ended up sleep walking again. After all, she did have an odd dream where a silhouetted figure had given her a jacket- remarkably similar to Kidd's- before it quickly sent her off.

When he found her, she was going to be sorry. Kidd was planning ways in which to hurt her, or at least get back at her, without killing her.

Hopefully she wouldn't run into Kidd today or tomorrow. Speaking of, Kate stopped suddenly and buttoned those buttons that Killer had fixed again when she was on her way to the galley this morning. Then she continued walking around, already planning ways to evade Kidd today.

To lost in his angry, violent, churning thoughts, Kidd stormed around a corner.

Too lost in her careful planning Kate turned around the corner.

Both ran into one another. One stumbled back blindly as something wrapped around her forearm. The other regained their composure almost instantly to see a small blonde. He gripped her arm roughly and sneered "Just who I was looking for." A cruel, eager smile curled itself over his dark lips.

Crap! Kate thought, knowing her eyes must be wide and filled with fear. What normal person wouldn't be afraid of that smile, on that face, aimed at them?! She let loose a short string of curses and grumbled more to herself then to him "Just who I was hoping to avoid." His grip tightened until it was uncomfortable.

"Care to explain where you got my jacket?" He calmly sneered at her.

"I don't know." She admitted, after all honest was the best policy, right?

Obviously not because he slowly raised his hand, watching as she struggled, pulling and stuttering, knowing what was coming before he backhanded the girl. She careened into the wall as the sound of skin on skin echoed, nowhere near satisfyingly enough throughout the hall.

Kate stood and tentatively touched her lip, pulling her hand away to see the blood she was tasting. She had hit her head on the wall hard enough that a headache was instantly knocked inside her head, and her cheek stung. She stumbled shakily to her feet. She had never taken a blow that hard by someone appearing so happy. Judging by that indescribable smile- smirk- sneer thing on Kidd's face that had been the appetizer, a small taste of what was to come.

Fighting back probably wasn't much of an option, not in such a small, narrow space. But what option did she have? Kate wasn't about to let herself get beaten without putting up some kind of fight. His hand came towards her again and she dodged. Since Kidd was such a huge man, Kate figured that speed and a blow to the back of the head was all she was going to need. But she was quickly proven wrong and sent flying after he anticipated her attack with what appeared to be ease. It was almost as if he knew her style.

While the girl tried to defend herself and even tried fighting back, Kidd laughed at her attempts. She wasn't as fast as Killer, nearly, but not as. It was as though Killer had taught her his exact fighting style, which he had seen it's swift efficiency enough times to swat her away with ease as she suddenly appeared behind him, aiming to send a powerful kick to the back of his head. She went hurdling down the hall before slamming into the wall at the end of it. Her head snapped back before her body slid down the wall and came to a crumpled rest on the floor and didn't move for a few seconds.

Kidd began strolling towards her, was it really that easy? But before he could take his second step, Kate looked up at him before haphazardly pushing herself to her feet, swaying dangerously, as she tried to keep her balance. He paused, taking a moment to take in the death glare she was giving him. If looks could kill, he'd have wilted to nothingness right then and there. Any normal person would have been petrified, but Kidd, he just threw his head back and laughed. This girl was a riot! She wasn't going to last much longer against him, not unless she had some kind of magic trick planned, or hadn't been fighting with all of her strength and moves that she knew. "Still standing I see." He taunted her.

"Damn straight. I don't know if you want me to beg for mercy at your feet, or if you want something else- but either way, I won't do it." She said a determination filled voice.

Kidd had considered using his devil fruit, but decided against it simply because there wasn't much to work with, except for his jacket, which was still on her battered body. He had considered shooting her, but again decided not to do that- Killer wouldn't be too pleased and it wasn't as if he was in any danger of taking any serious damage from her. She had slowed down considerably since the start of their 'fight' if what they were doing could even be called a fight. And he had considered using his dagger, but there was the high possibility that he'd cut too deep and wind up killing her. "You know, I'm impressed you've lasted this long." Kidd sneered at her.

"Damn straight I have." Kate spat at the arrogant man at the other end of the hall. Had she really been smacked that far away from him? Hmm, guess those muscles weren't just for show. Kate had Killer to thank for having lasted so long against a person such as Kidd. He had trained her long and hard before he left their island in the South Blue. Kate wasn't really able to say much more then what she had, she could hardly see straight, let alone think straight. It didn't help that the last few days were piling atop each other and fast. Sore muscles form a friendly spar, hair pulling, body slamming, choking, more hair pulling and then this.

"Too bad it's just that much longer I get to punish you." the smirk on his face grew to something that would make even grown men wet themselves, and made Kate wish she had blacked out already.

So that's what this was about. Kate marveled as she was pulled forwards by an invisible force. She noticed, even at this distance that purple- or was it pink?- static cackled around his hand and fingers after the word 'attract' was uttered. One more blow, she though as she was pulled closer and closer to him. One more good solid blow and he'd be relieved momentarily of the sharp pains, dull aches in her body and iron taste in her mouth.

He held her up to his eye level by the front of his jacket, drawing his fist back, preparing himself to punch the girl. He wouldn't admit it, but for a girl Kate was sort of tough. She certainly had her pride, and her in vain attempts to land blows and even go up against him were admirable. And even though he could see fear in her eyes, she was pushing it down and not letting it stop her from getting a good beating. She had only let out a few whimpers and gasps of pain. But when Kidd saw the almost desperate look in her eyes, when he saw that she was silently, almost begging him to follow through with it, he instantly stopped. Not about to obey her.

Instead, he changed his hold on her so that he held her by Killer's shirt with one hand. With the other he grabbed the back of his jacket by its fuzzy collar and ripped it off of her. Once it was removed from her small body, he dropped her, turned on his heel and as he strutted away from her crumpled form, putting it on as he did so.

More than satisfied now.

He couldn't even bother to be gentle, or mindful of the injuries he had caused her while taking off the object of their 'fight', could he? No, of course not. And when he had gotten what he wanted- after not delivering that final blow- he just had to drop her. Kate's knees had buckled upon her feet touching the ground, sending her entire aching body to the ground. The last thing Kate remembered seeing was the worn fabric of Kidd's jacket slide over his muscular shoulders. The last thing she remembered thinking was that now there were two people she knew that she couldn't beat. That and Killer had been right, there was a large void between him and her and it was called experience.

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A/N: I don't know if everyone knows this, but oniichan means older brother. So if you didn't know, you not only learned something new, but now you know. If you already know but forgot, here's a nice reminder. If you knew and didn't forget, suck it up.

I hope the 'fight' was ok. I'm not very good at them, so I apologize. I hope I at least kept the characters in character.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feed back?

All three greatly appreciated.


	7. Sleep walker

Killer walked down the hall, turned a corner and came to an abrupt stop to see a crumpled mess on the floor that he instantly recognized as Kate. He sighed, obviously her and Kidd had tied into it yet again, but it appeared that nothing other than their fists and more than likely words had been used.

Yet again Killer picked up his sisters limp body and began walking. This time however, he took her to the infirmary instead of his room. He took her to the doctor he had convinced Kidd that they would one day need. However, he never imagined that the one day he had been talking about would involve his baby sister. "Take good care of her." Killer told the doctor. If he didn't, they'd have to find another doctor at the next island.

"Let me do my job." The man grumbled, shooting Killer a glare before he looked the small girl over. After a few minutes, he pulled out bandages and alcohol. There were a few scrapes but the injuries paled in comparison to what could have happened, the damage that Eustass Kidd could have inflicted upon Kate. Killer left, trusting that his sister was in good hands.

Kate woke up, but just lay there as pain washed over her body, that and the realization that she wasn't in Killer's bed, but instead in a new room, in a new bed. She peeled open her eyes to look around the room. It was messy to say the least. After turning only her head and looking around some more, Kate wondered if she were in an infirmary.

Wow, that redheaded maniac actually had medical personnel aboard his ship. Kate had to be honest, she was beyond amazed. But before she could continue dwelling on this, the door opened and in walked Killer, holding something in his hands. That something was steaming.

"You're awake." He bluntly observed the obvious. Kate nodded silently, eyes glued to whatever he had in his hands. "How do you feel?"

"Horrible." She wanted to tell him that he had been right, to rub it in his face. After all, Killer was always right, but it was only after she had done whatever he had advised her against.

"Can you sit up?" He asked, putting the steaming thing down on the night table besides the bed. Kate saw that it was a plate of food, and her mouth involuntarily watered at the smell and sight of it. As if to answer him Kate began struggling to levitate her upper body. After a few minutes of watching, and letting Kate struggle by herself, Killer reached forwards and helped her. "I brought you food." He informed her, as if Kate wasn't very aware of the plate yet.

"I can smell." She rasped.

Killer handed her the plate, not the kind to tease her by holding it just out of reach (like a certain redhead that she knew), but he didn't leave, or sit either. But instead asked, "When are you going to wizen up Kate? I can only protect you so long. It's a damn miracle that you're still alive."

"He makes it so easy, and you told me to find out the information that I wanted myself. And I have. As for protecting me, you're doing a horrible job. I'm sure you're aware of the definition of the word protect, but I'm going to remind you of it anyway. Protecting means preventing harm from coming something or someone." Kate simply didn't want to have this conversation. Not now, not later and not with anyone and especially not Killer.

"I cannot protect you when you don't listen to me." He sternly countered Kate. "I have duties to do on this ship, I can't baby sit you 24/7. And it doesn't help that you look for trouble." He emphasized the word look.

"I don't look for trouble, it looks for me." Kate defended herself as she cleaned the plate, looking up at Killer. He obviously wasn't too happy with her, but by bringing her here in the first place, letting her sleep and bringing her food for when she woke up all before lecturing her showed that he was more concerned about her then he was mad at her. But he still obviously thought she was stupid or her actions at least.

"What did you do?" He asked her. He had gotten Kidd's view of what had happened. According to him, 'the damn bitch thought she could steal his jacket and get away with it'.

She shrugged and then proceeded to explain how she had woken up with the jacket wrapped around her, then went on to tell Killer how Kidd had used no weapons, just his hands and a powerful magnetic force that she had concluded was he devil fruit ability. "Then I blacked out." Kate concluded.

"Did you learn your lesson?" Killer asked her.

Kate nodded a yes. Hell no! She thought. Kate was going to get him back, pay that angry redhead back once she was in better shape. One night of good- no sleep walking filled- sleep and she should be as fit as a fiddle in the morning. Or so she hoped.

"Don't lie to me." Killer grumbled at his sisters' obvious dishonesty.

"Don't try to make me swear off the inevitable."

With a sigh and no further words, Killer turned on his heel and walked out, taking the licked clean and discarded plate and silverware with him as he went.

Kate had hell of a lot of fun struggling not to move too much as she tried to lie back down. Kate cursed Kidd as she continued struggling. Eventually she gave up and after saying 'screw it', bit her tongue and threw herself back into a laying position on the bed. Kate hit her head on the wall and regretted the rough action as fresh pain cursed through her poor abused body. She tried to go back to sleep, to sleep off the pain. But after hours of getting no farther than a state of only half unconsciousness, Kate got up. She tripped and felt her way to the door, feeling like a drunk as the room tipped and spun. Unfortunately, that was just her journey to the door.

Kate stumbled, limped and staggered down the hall, on her way to Killers' room. She quietly opened the door, slipped inside, closed it and crept to the side of the bed that Killer wasn't occupying before Kate flopped down, face first. Not too long after that she managed to fall into a deep sleep.

A certain pair of red eyes opened, adjusting almost instantly to the dim lighting of the messy room, to see a face almost inches from his. The eyes narrowed, he would have reacted more strongly had it not been so early. Kidd hadn't slept well that night and had planned on sleeping most of the day away. However the small body that prevented him from rolling over onto his back ruined that plan.

He pulled an arm out from under the warm red sheets and with his index finger jabbed her in the shoulder, figuring that at this time of day an eye or the face would be rude. Despite popular belief, Kidd didn't start every morning in the mood to kick kittens or Kate's as a matter of fact. Any other time the slight annoyance Kidd felt by Kate would be amplified to straight rage that she had dared climbed into his bed and slept so peacefully and casually next to him while he couldn't sleep at all.

She let out a soft moan not suiting the situation, before she rolled over as if she were subconsciously trying to get away from him. However, she was still in his bed. Kidd shifted reluctantly and with his foot, pushed her to the very edge of his bed, where she proceeded to roll off with a dull thud. But Kidd couldn't care less, or even pretend to act concerned as he rolled away from that side of the bed and somehow managed to fall into a fitful sleep.

Kate had the sudden feeling of falling; it wasn't long lived because she crashed into the ground of an unfamiliar room. Her pain from that afternoon still lingered and surfaced in her groggy mind and decided to make itself known with another groan. Still sleepy though, and as comfortable as she could be while so sore, Kate decided that she'd worry about whose room she was in tomorrow. . .all she knew is that it wasn't Killers' room, it was too dark to be his room.

She prayed that it wasn't Kidd's room. After all she had seen enough of him that afternoon and it wasn't likely that either of them could be civil around each other. He simply made it too easy for her to annoy him and because of that she made it all too easy for him to lose his temper.

A sudden yelp and the softer than usual ground beneath his bare feet jerked Kidd out of his awake, yet not fully so, state of mind. "What the fuck?" Kidd growled, glaring down into wide aquamarine colored eyes.

"C-can you somehow- just let me walk out without any f-further in-injuries?" She stammered jumping to her feet. Was she scared? Hell yes! But she also wasn't in the mood to take a beating or to be knocked around a bit; after all she had just been woken up by being stepped on.

While Kidd ran a hand back through his hair with one hand, he reached over and grabbed his goggles from the bedside table that conveniently rested there. He noted how she flinched as he did so.

So the man didn't sleep upside down. Kate mentally confirmed, watching as Kidd slid the goggles into place.

"What the fuck?" He repeated. It was too early to be dealing with Kate. And what the hell was she wearing? Was Killer aware of it? He wondered. Surely not, there was no way in hell that Killer would let his sister walk around his ship wearing that. When Kidd said 'that', he meant Killer's usual shirt and her underwear. The shirt reached her thighs, but failed to cover the white lace of her black underwear. The shirt itself had the first three buttons undone; teasing him with the amount of cleavage he could see. "Get the fuck out of my room incestuous bitch."

"Pardon me?" Had he just called her an incestuous bitch? Incestuous, as in into her brother?!

"I said-"

"I know what you said!" Her face turned bright red, only a few shades lighter than his hair. "You said incestuous bitch!"

"Which part bothers you?" He sneered at her, just to get a rise out of her. Sometimes- like now- it was far too easy, and quite enjoyable.

"Incestuous?! God, I've been called things worse than bitch. But I am in no way into my brother!" Sure, Kate admired him, and as a child wanted to be just like her bigger brother. And yeah, she loved Killer-but not like that.

"Let's go take that shower Killer." He mocked Kate, who was the same height him at the moment, but that was only because he was sitting.

"But I meant- we didn't- I didn't know the bathroom was!" Kate stammered before slapping Kidd in a second of almost blind rage. How dare he think that she would shower with her brother! She didn't back handing him, she did not end up splitting his lip or anything similar to that, she slapped him just hard enough for the sound to reverberate off the walls of the dark room, and for his head to snap to the side.

Rubbing his cheek as if the blow had actually hurt, Kidd fixed his crimson gaze on the frozen girl, she looked fearful for the first time since facing him, though there was remaining anger lingering behind the fear. Kidd reached forwards and roughly gripped her chin in his hand. She flinched but made no move to pull away, run, or escape, three things that would have been both smart and more fun for Kidd.

"I'm sorry." She whimpered, only sounding half sincere. For Kate there was so much to watch, his eyes, his smile, his other hand, all while trying to calculate how much trouble she was in and what his next course of action was going to be, whether he was going to hit her with words or with his fists. Kate however could not have imagined what Kidd impulsively did next.

Kidd jerked her face towards him and crushed his lips against hers in a haphazard way. He wasted no time roughly biting down on her lower lip, trying to get her to part them for him. But when that yielded no response other than a slight groan of protest and her clenching her jaw, Kidd found the crusty, scabbed over; split in her lip he had caused not even a full day ago and bit down hard, until he tasted fresh blood. Kate gasped not only in surprise but in pain as pain from her lip spiked. She could feel him smirk as his tongue was thrust into her mouth, invading it. His free arm wrapped around her slim waist and pulled her between his legs, closer to him.

The kiss was hard and intense as Kate slowly ran her hand up his bare back, feeling the muscles of his shoulders, then through his hair. It was surprisingly soft to the touch, as if she had expected it to be spikey and hard. She noted this as his nails dug into her chin. In retaliation, Kate did the only thing she really could, she clenched her fists in his hair, pulling roughly and tugging sharply as his lips left hers and sharp bites were trailed down her very sensitive neck, leaving a small burning trail in their wake. Kate bit the inside of her lips as she tried oh so hard to suppress a quiet moan as she tilted her head back, tilting her head to the side so that he could reach her neck better. How did he know that her neck was so sensitive? She wondered to herself as she yet again she felt him smirk just before he bit down. "Kidd." She gasped out his name in half a moan as his teeth sunk into her shoulder. Had he bitten her neck like that Kate feared that she'd have screamed.

Had he drawn blood? She wondered fleetingly at his nails scraped down the skin of her back, reaching up from under Killers shirt. She gasped in more than shock, arching her back into his body, his strong chest. She didn't have time to say anything more as his lips returned to hers once more. Only this time Kate was ready for them, she wasn't going to let him dominate he, not when she was already bleeding in two places.

Kidd decided on a whim to see what would happen if he let Kate take charge for a few moments. He was pleasantly rewarded by her hand pressing against his chest, pushing him to his back. His arm tightened around her and her dragged her down with him.

Kate's shoulder throbbed where he had bitten her, as a heavy weight better known as Kidd rolled on top of her. Kate slowly cracked open her eyes and tried to suppress a shudder when she saw Kidd. She hated to admit it, but she failed miserably. Kidd was smirking down at her, not too differently than yesterday after he backhanded her into the wall. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could utter whatever it was he had been planning on saying, he was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

Killer woke up with Kate missing form her side of his bed, meaning she had wondered off sometime within the duration of the night.

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Sorry this wasn't out sooner, I didn't get to the place in the writing that I wanted to, so I waited. Again I'm sorry.

So I heard this in a song, and the lyrics screamed Kidd. . . It's hard to be good . . . when it's easy to be so bad. –see what I mean? Or is it just me? Speaking of Kidd and songs, the song called Temper Temper by Bullet For My Valentine reminds me of him or at least his character too.

Was the kiss ok? *cringes* I hope it was ok to say the very least. -_-*

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?


	8. Necklaces

Killer had checked the deck, the galley, double checked his room, the bathroom in which he had showed her, the crow's-nest and just about any other place a sleeping girl could have gone to, yet she was nowhere to be found.

Killer also noticed that Kidd was nowhere to be found even though it was well past noon. Wondering if his stubborn captain was perhaps not feeling well, Killer stopped his search for his sister- well put it on pause. Because once Kidd was deemed healthy and alright, Killer would resume searching for Kate.

Hearing silence from outside Kidd's room, Killer opened the door assuming that there were only two possibilities to explain why it was so. One being that he was still asleep. And the other that Kidd wasn't in is quarters. However Killer's masked blue eyes were seeing something else entirely. Something that told him that he had been very wrong. Killer blinked a few times watching as his baby sister pushed his captain down onto the bed, onto his back. Was he seeing right? Surely he wasn't hallucinating, and intoxication was not to blame for the sight before him either. Upon seeing Kidd flip them so that he was atop his sister, Killer had seen more than enough. Clearing his throat Killer said both of their names.

"I warned you bitch didn't I?" He could have sworn he heard Kidd grumbled into Kate's ear before a gasp was heard from beneath the large body of his captain, meaning he had done something to Kate before getting off of her. But what that something was, Killer didn't want to know.

"H-hello big brother." Kate breathlessly managed, running a hand back through her tousled short white blonde hair. Her eyes flicked to Kidd as her hand slid down her neck and stopped at a certain spot on her shoulder, rubbing it almost tenderly.

Killer looked at Kidd, who looked annoyed, though for which reasons Killer didn't wish to find out, and would prefer not knowing. Having found what he wanted- both his sister and the state of his captains' health- he turned on his heel and walked out, having no reason to stay.

Light footsteps soon slapped down the hallway after him. "Are you mad at me?" Her voice half whimpered, half asked as light fingers grabbed his wrist, lightly begging him to stop and face her. He obeyed. Killer turned towards her as she almost desperately searched his mask, then body language- remembering that the piece of blue and white metal had about as much emotion as a rock, meaning she could gain no information from his hidden eyes.

"No." He simply told her. Killer wasn't mad, surprised to have walked in on what he had- especially after the impression Kidd had made on Kate and their erratic behavior- yes, to say the very least. But what he felt about having intruded on the scene could hardly be described as mad. He however didn't intend to sit and sort through his emotions long enough to figure it out exactly what to name it.

"Don't lie." Kate wished she could at least see his blue eyes, or his mouth or jaw. Something where she could glance more information off of her brother. From the neck down was sometimes helpful, but most body language was in the eyes and jaw of a person, which were both covered by his mask.

"You read me so well." He dryly said before asking "What were you thinking?" His voice was monotone and revealed absolutely nothing; no emotion helpful to Kate could be detected in it. Killer's voice was cool and clipped, and it stung, making Kate flinch at the sound of it.

"I don't know." Kate finally whispered. It was true. After their lips had met, after he had kissed her, Kate's thoughts-all of them- had shut down. Any plans of escape or wonderings about what he was going to do next, wonderings of how he was going to react to having been slapped, all of that went 'poof', all was gone the moment Kidd's dark lips had crashed into hers.

"I could tell." Killer found Kate's reason weak, however it was far better than her lying to him. He was glad that he wasn't being lied to; it wasn't as though Kate was a good liar as it was. Killer couldn't scold his captain, no matter how much he wanted to. Fortunately for him he could scold his sister. He reached forwards and buttoned the buttons of his shirt, the one that was one his sister's body. "Go get dressed." He coolly ordered, removing his hand from her grasp.

"I love you oniichan." Kate managed, taking his dismissal as forgiveness. She lunged forwards, wrapping her arms around him in a happy hug. "I'm sorry you had to see that." Kate wondered exactly when he had walked in, how much he had seen and most importantly, what would have happened had her brother not walked in, had he not interrupted them. Would they have had sex? It had been awhile since Kate had done so. She also wondered how they had even started making out. How they had gone from fighting to locking lips, scratching backs and pulling hair was beyond her.

Kate pulled away from Killer, offering him a smile before turning and running down the hall. Luckily no other Kidd Pirates had the privilege of seeing Kate dressed as she was in Killers oversized shirt, and black undies with white lace.

When she reached his room, she tore off his shirt like one might a hoodie, not a button up shirt. She found her white half shirt, and even though it smelled like the inside of her boot, shook it out and pulled it on over her head before she finished dressing. She rubbed the place on her shoulder where Kidd had bitten down hard, then examined it carefully. There were forming scabs in the shape of human teeth. Not only that, but it wasn't covered by her shirt, couldn't be covered by its neckline.

Kidd watched the small blonde run out of his room, chasing after his first mate a few moments after he had silently left. It wasn't that he was embarrassed that they had been caught or interrupted- he could do whatever the fuck he wanted on his ship and didn't have to look up to anyone, that was why he was the captain after all. But the whore had been begging him to do it. Kidd didn't know if it were the look of fear in her eyes, the burst of anger or her slapping him that had made him do that, hell it could have been a combination of all three.

She was Killers sister, the one who had stolen his jacket, and he wasn't desperate, even if he hadn't been laid in months! Dammit, Killer should be glad he didn't get any farther with his sister, he grumbled to himself.

"Kidd." A voice interrupted his mental ramblings from the doorway of his quarters. He turned his head to see his first mate. Speak of the devil. He thought. "As your first mate I cannot give you orders-" He began.

"Damn straight." Kidd was the only one who was giving orders unless he told someone else otherwise.

"However, I can make suggestions and provide you with advice, or make requests." Killer paused before continuing, waiting to see if Kidd was going to say anything before he began speaking again. His captain only nodded; as if to show that he was in fact still with him. "And I am suggesting that next time my sister finds her way into this room, you kick her out immediately."

Kidd let out a growl, standing and looking at Killer. "There won't be a fucking second time." There was no way in hell that Kidd was planning on repeating what had just happened not even ten minutes ago. Hell, he hadn't planned on any of this morning- starting with waking up with Killers little sister in his bed and ending when the man had interrupted them.

Killer curtly nodded once more. "Yes, well there's no guarantee there won't. After all Kate is known to sleep walk." He informed his redheaded captain, though Killer was sure he had already figured that out.

"Maybe she'll fucking walk off the damn ship and drown her fucking self." Kidd grumbled. There was only a few days left until the week ended, they were nearing the next island. Speaking of, "Do you have any information on the next island?" Kidd asked.

"In your office, on your desk." Killer instantly answered.

Kidd nodded and headed to his office. Kate wouldn't bother him there . . . he hoped.

Kate was grateful that the rest of the day was not only Kidd-less, but also eventless, just blissful soreness. Her lip throbbed with her pulse and her back was now tender. Oh so painfully tender, making her conscious of just about every move that included her back.

A voice behind her stopped her. "Do I even want to know what happened to your back?" Killer asked, seeing the jagged red marks and peeling layers of skin stretching up into the covered region of his sisters back. He had a growing suspicion that the obvious bite mark on Kate's shoulder, the worse then yesterday split in her bottom lip and the markings on her back were all Kidd's fault.

"Kidd." She told him with a shrug of her shoulders. "You know, I no longer think he's just a whips and chains kind of guy. I've reached the conclusion that he's more of a rough sex, bdsm kind of guy." Kate bluntly said. Upon hearing that comment come from Kate's mouth, Killer began turning to leave- that was not something he needed to know. "Hey, wait. I was wondering if you would give me a back massage." She asked. Then felt the need to have a reason for having asked such a thing, and of course a bargaining chip. "It's very sore. Plus if you give me one, I'll give you one in return, before or after I get mine, whichever you prefer."

Wonder why it's so sore. He mentally asked her, turning back around. Killer knew it was best to keep his thoughts to himself.

Without him giving her a reply, Kate dragged him to their room. He gestured for her to lay down first. So she did. Unfortunately for Killer, he had managed to relax Kate so much that she had fallen asleep after only five minutes, and he didn't have the heart to wake her up for his selfish reasons. However despite this, he couldn't help but feel a small stab of disappointment as he gently covered up her sleeping form before slowly leaving the room.

The crew didn't know what they were yelling about this time, but they could hear Kidd's pissed off voice bellowing profanities and obscenities from some place on the ship. Of course the shouting was soon followed by a girl's taunting and teasing voice. A few people watched Kidd throw some blows at the small girl, she dodged most of them with relaxed ease but a few of them actually managed to hit her. She had managed to unsheathe the dagger on Kidd's chest and was using it as a weapon against him. The blade was tainted red and Kidd had a few cuts on him from it, but only nicks and scrapes, nothing to be concerned about, nothing that needed immediate attention. If anyone should be concerned it was Kate about her safety.

"I'm not incestuous!" She angrily shouted at the man that kept insisting that she was into her brother in a completely non brother-sister way. "We never showered together! And we- we- we have a strictly brother- sister relationship!" After that she decided to change the subject. "Anyway, you're the one who's into my brother!" Though it was not only obviously false, and also had been disproved, she still flung those words at him anyway. After all, what else did she have to use?

Kidd snarled, not two seconds from sending her overboard. "I'm not fucking gay!"

"So you're not happy?" Kate cocked her head to the side, looking almost serious before giggling "I wouldn't be if I had something stuck up my ass either."

The crew on the deck was enjoying the exchange, putting money on how long the daredevil of a girl would last, or how long it would be until Kidd's devil fruit power came into play against her.

That was the last straw- actually it was about the negative 10th straw for Eustass Kidd. And as Kate danced just out of his reach, the warm sunlight glinted off of something he hadn't cared to take notice of when she was lying under him that morning, that something was metallic and around her neck, just his luck. An evil smile graced Kidd's lips as he held his hand out saying "Attract." Loud and clear just for Kate. Purple static leapt and jumped around his hand and fingers after he said the word, stopping Kate's fit of laughter.

The knife belonging to him flew out of Kate's grasp and he caught it easily as she managed to stand her ground. The silver thing around her neck rose into the air and became taut against her neck. "Oooh, scary." Kate mocked, not noticing her necklace, not until the chain snapped. She reached out for it as it flew off her neck and through the air hurdling towards Kidd. "Stop!" She shouted at Kidd or the necklace as she followed it until it landed in Kidd's large hand. She looked at him and fearlessly demanded "Give it back." As if those words alone were going to work magic on Kidd and make him suddenly want to return the stolen object.

He tossed it up and down in one hand, watching as Kate's eyes followed its steady course, up into the air, down into his palm and back again. With his other hand he held her just out of reach. She persisted and tried to get it, reaching forwards with both of her arms, which were too short once he moved his hand only a few inches back, but far enough away from her that her straining fingertips couldn't reach. "Is this special to you?" He asked, already knowing that it was. There was a small, script K engraved on one side of the heart pendent, the one she was trying so hard to reach. Kidd bet this was about the time she was wishing that her arms were longer, or that she could stretch.

"Please." She begged almost desperately. She didn't even want to begin fathoming the things that Kidd could do to or with her precious necklace or what he could make her do by dangling it over her head and using it as a bargaining chip.

"How special?" He lazily drawled closing his fist around the small pendent, the broken chain dangling from his hand, catching the light as the two parts dangled there.

"Precious." She said not realizing exactly what it was that Kidd was doing. It was the most precious material thing Kate owned. The only thing that actually beat it was her brother, in the flesh. When he wasn't around- like he hadn't been for the last three years- all Kate had to do (besides read newspapers) to see her precious brother was to crack open the locket and see him. And even though he was with her now, her neck felt naked without it. "I'll do almost anything for it."

At those words, Kidd's smile became sinister as he slowly repeated the most enticing word from her entire sentence. "Anything?"

"Yes!" Kate exclaimed, forgetting how careful she had been to place the word almost before the word anything in the first place.

With that Kidd pulled his arm back and launched the necklace over the side of the deck, possibly using his devil fruit power to make it go even farther than just throwing it would have. Kate's eyes followed the necklace and its arch through the air from Kidd's fist, watching horrified as it plopped into the water. She took only a few seconds to look back at Kidd, who laughed at the glare full of pure hate that was aimed at him. He nodded towards the ocean and almost calmly asked "You gonna get that or waste your time trying to punch me as it sinks further and further down into the water, being tossed around by the currents. Every second you spend here, on the deck glaring at me, is the farther away your precious necklace gets from you."

"Fuck you." Kate growled before running to the side of the deck, not breaking stride she dove over the side. She resurfaced only seconds later, gasping for a breath of air before diving back under the surface of the water.

Under the water Kate opened her eyes, searching desperately for the sliver. She ignored how the water blurred her eyesight and the slowly building burning sensation in her eyes. She kicked towards the surface as the familiar ache of having no oxygen in her lungs became more persistent. She repeated this many more times until a voice, high above her stopped her. "Looking for this?" Something dangled from his hand. Squinting Kate still couldn't see exactly what it was, however she knew that it was her necklace, the one she was so desperately searching down here in the water for. But she could easily make out the look on his face, he was having fun! Somehow as unsurprising as it was, it still pissed Kate off.

After a while of playing mercilessly with Kate and her necklace, Kidd grew bored and turned towards Killer, who had been silently watching, and said "Go get her." He didn't feel like using any metal she might have on her body to bring her back onto the deck. Hell, he should just leave her there. "While you're-never mind." Kidd had been about to toss the necklace to Killer so that he could return it, but, decided mid-sentence that it would be more fun if he were to kept it for later. After all, she had said anything, that she'd do anything for it.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three are greatly appreciated.


	9. Choking on pride

Killer wordlessly obeyed the command that he was to go to his sister's rescue only after he had been given the order. If Kidd had walked away and had not given him the order, he'd have probably have done so anyway . . . probably.

"T-thank y-you." Kate coughed and choked on the words, clinging to her brother for dear life even though they were no longer in the calm waters of the ocean below them. But instead they were safely on the deck of the ship. The only water near them was the water pooling beneath their bodies around them.

"What started it this time?" Killer muttered aloud.

"The weather, what else?" Kate gasped in a 'duh' tone of voice, still catching her breath.

"Stupid." Was all the man said.

"Coming from the man who wears a metal helmet mask thing when it could very well be the end of you."

"The weather, how did it escalate to what it did?" Killer asked, choosing to ignore her comment. If she continued on the way she was the end of her was much closer than his.

"Concerning our sexuality? Well you see, I believe he's ga-"

"Kidd is not gay." Killer was quick to interrupt his sister at that point.

"How would you know?" Kate instantly challenged, most likely just to be difficult.

"I would, it's as simple as that." Killer said with a single curt nod, not giving an answer or a reason as to how exactly he would know. He was sure Kidd would appreciate him not giving his reasons to Kate though. If his captain was gay, Killer would know, and he wasn't. He was one hundred percent into girls. If the screams he could hear almost nightly during their stays while the log pose set weren't enough evidence, Killer didn't want to know what would be.

"Then he's at least bi for Rogers's sake!" Kate exclaimed, turning heads. "And he believes that I'm incestuous! God-dammit, I am not into you. I mean yeah I love you and yeah I say it often, and yeah I can hardly live without you and yeah I-" Kate lowered her voice, " we sleep together. But I'm not into you like that, dear lord, you're my brother. It's not as though the feelings would be returned!"

"That's what incest is, the intimate relationship between family."

"Yes, I know that. Look, I'm going to change. Can I borrow a shirt and pants until mine are dry?" She had nothing else but Killers clothing to wear. He nodded, knowing that his clothing was her only option. He also didn't want her to go walking around the ship with a wet white shirt on. Kate stood up and went to change out of her sopping wet clothing, leaving a trail of drops and footprint sized puddles behind as she walked off the deck.

She constantly reached up where her necklace usually was only for her fingertips to meet skin instead of warm, familiar metal. That place almost burned with its absence.

For the rest of the day Kate avoided Kidd. Kate wasn't avoiding him because she was scared of him, that she felt like she couldn't handle another encounter with him. No, she was afraid that she would attack him, to try and get her precious necklace back. That and she simply wasn't in the mood to face him again. God forbid more than just their mouths would do the talking.

Kate lay on the deck stargazing a few hours after dinner. It was early in the morning so it was only her and the lookout on the deck, the other crew members were supposedly fast asleep in their- whatever those freaks slept in. It was a quiet and peaceful night, a gentle breeze making it almost cool. Few gulls squawked overhead, signifying that they were close to land, as the waves gently rocked the ship like a cradle. For Kate, this was the nighttime equivalent of cloud watching, creating straight lined pictures in the twinkling pinpricks of light, only to forget which ones she had used to create which picture.

When her eyelids kept slipping lower and lower and she began dozing off for a few seconds at a time, Kate decided that it was time to climb into Killer's bed, curl up next to him, and wrap herself in his warm blankets before going to sleep.

She stood, stretched and wasn't even able to take a full step before a pair of arms wrapped around her. A hand clamped over her mouth as a hot voice hissed into her ear to not scream. The other arm wrapped around her middle, pulling her tightly against the-from what she could feel- man's body. The person had broad shoulders and was quite muscular, Kate noted, instantly thinking of Kidd. But their skin was far too dark, their arm way too hairy, plus she knew that he wouldn't bother with sneaking up on her, he'd just smack her or something. She doubted stealth was Kidd's thing anyway. At those thoughts she couldn't help but think of the feel of his body on top of her, his weight pressing down on her body, pressing her down into his mattress, lying on his bed, how he used his strong arms to keep most- if not all- of his weight off of her. She let out a sound that one might make when eating a delicious food, not being held by a stranger who obviously had bad intentions. Right, this wasn't the time to think about him or that.

Her eyes narrowed, what the hell was the lookout doing, sleeping?! And how the hell had she missed this guy? As she thought this, another man walked into her line of vision. Correction, how had she missed them? This guy had darker skin too; though it was lighter than the man who had a hold of her, with light fuzz as hair. At that moment Kate realized that she preferred her guys to have hair-something she had never considered, or given much thought- so that she could run her fingers through it, feel it's texture between her fingers, fist her hand into it and pull on it, so that she could yank it, just like she had done with Kidd's. Again not the time to be thinking about Kidd. Kate mentally face palmed, what was it with Kidd in her thoughts? That thought gave Kate a pause, making her question herself again, did she even want to know the answer to that?

The man behind her shifted, pulling her out of her thoughts and mental interrogation as something hard and cold was pressed to her throat. The man before her smiled, taking a few steps towards her and her captor. "I'm surprised." He said, breaking the silky silence around them.

"At what?" She asked despite the big meaty hand clamped over her mouth.

"The ease in which my partner and I waltzed onto your ship." He gloated. Kate just rolled her eyes at him. It wasn't her fault that the lookout was slacking off. Plus who would have thought that she was on danger of a situation like this on a pirate ship? On Kidd's ship? "I'll keep things simple." He paused a beat before continuing with whatever he was going to go on about. "It's rather fortunate for you and your health Kate," he addressed her as Killer might, casual, as if he knew her. Well she certainly didn't know him. ",that I want your brother."

"He's already taken by my captain." She beamed cheekily at him. "Next time you say you want someone, you might want to be more clear. You might want to be more specific about which way you want my precious brother." Kate couldn't help but interrupt his ranting and raving about whatever. She had tried to keep a straight face, as the man's face, ears and neck turned bright red, though if he were embarrassed or as pissed as hell, Kate couldn't quite tell.

"I don't think you can refuse." He finally said, choosing not to take Kate's bait, instead he chose to ignore her comment. "It would be wise of you to simply accept my proposal-"

"Sorry man, I ain't tying myself down with marriage, not yet at least. Go find some other gorgeous blonde pirate." She interrupted yet again, ignoring the tool of intimidation pressed to her throat. To be honest, it wasn't working well. The man's wording wasn't the best, making it far too easy for Kate to slip in a comment. Making it hard for Kate to take him seriously when she could so easily throw a joke or two into his speech.

He scowled at her, though it could never rival Kidd's. The man's coal black eyes weren't nearly as threatening as Kidd's ruby red ones, they only implied that he'd use violence if he needed to, not if he felt like it. His normal colored lips weren't cursing at her, or pressed into a thin line, no the corners were turned down into a displeased frown. So all in all, Kate was completely unfazed. "You see, we're going to turn him in for his bounty. You'll have a few days to save your precious brother before the marines take any action against him, whether they cart him off to impel down or just execute him here. It's a win-win situation for both of us."

"How so?" Kate inquired, not actually considering his offer. It wasn't as tempting as he probably thought it was. There was nothing in it for her, or her brother.

"We get our money, you get time to save your brother." he said, sounding cocky, as though he thought he had made a deal that she just couldn't refuse.

She frowned at this and jerked her elbow back into the silent man's hard stomach. When his grip on her loosened, Kate twisted out of it, taking the blade he had held to her throat with her. She came to a stop and said with her hand on her hip "You see, I'm not defenseless." The only reason Kate had even bothered getting out of his grasp was to prove that point. Kate couldn't help but smile to herself, if Kidd were here this would be where she stuck her tongue out at him or said ha! I can take care of myself. But he wasn't, she she'd just gloat to these strangers who wanted her brother. "It's a shame that you decided to pick on a girl." It was always the half asleep, unsuspecting female wasn't it? There was a click and she turned towards it to see the man who had done all the talking thus far holding a gun, pointing it at her. And this was the part where Kidd would sneer something mean at her as he proceeded to easily take out the man and his 'partner'. "I was going to go peacefully." Kate pouted. "No need to nearly behead me and point a gun my direction." She rubbed the thin, sticky with blood, line on her neck where the blade had sliced the first few layers of skin, a far cry from decapitation.

He jerked his head in the direction of the door and barked "Go, get your brother. If you get your captain-"

"Don't make me laugh." Kate grumbled. "That's suicide. Anyway, that pale brute isn't my captain and will never be." She quickly cut in, then added "Anyways I know how this works. I go quietly, bring him and get away with my life. I know how to hand my precious brother off to a pair of stupid bounty hunters." With that Kate tossed the machete over her shoulder and skipped towards the door that lead down to the bowels of the ship as it sunk an inch or two into the deck.

Who was stupid enough to request her to get her brother? There was no way she was going to be able to lug his body up to the deck, meaning he had to come willingly, consciously, meaning he could help Kate fight them. She let out a sigh and muttered the word amateurs.

Killer was gently woken by a rocking motion other than that of the ship, it was someone shaking him. He recognized her voice before he could understand the words her moving mouth were forming. "I need you to grab your scythes and join me up on the deck. I also need you to hurry." Kate rushed handing him his mask.

Killers mind instantly began searching for reasons in which Kate would ask this of him. But when his mind grasped nothing solid, was unable to concoct any reasons for her request, he finally gave up and asked "Why?"

"Don't question me. When have I ever asked you to do anything stupid?" Killer could instantly think of a million things Kate had conned him into doing, and he could see almost his exact thoughts reflected in her eyes. "Ok, that's not the point. The point is I need you to do this." She sighed, shifted her weight to her other foot, ran her hand back through her bed head and mumbled something.

"Excuse me?" Killer asked, being unable to make out what she had said.

"I said was stargazing, the lookout was slacking off and there's now some idiots who want your head up on the deck. They sent me to get you, so here I am. Their more than I can handle, with guns and stuff." Kate muttered the last word, as if she were ashamed of having to ask her brother for help to take out these guys. Actually she had only said the words 'bounty hunters' but figured that he'd ask for an exclamation and wanted to save a few minutes but just explaining when he asked for her to repeat herself.

Killer stood and rubbed the small scratch on Kate's neck with his thumb, his fingers curled lightly around the back of her neck, asking "Did you do this to yourself, of did they?"

Kate couldn't help but shudder, it wasn't at his touch, but at his voice, the anticipation that it summoned within her. She smiled almost wickedly and said "Nah, I'm not that stupid. They did this. Let's go." She hooked her arm through his and began skipping jovially towards the deck.

Kidd was sleeping deeply, not a single dream in mind, even though his last thought had been that the week was almost over and Kate was that much closer to leaving, only to be jolted awake by something jumping on his bed, shouting at him.

"What?" He growled, moving his legs to that the jumping thing fell with a satisfying thud on the ground beside his bed.

"Hey!" The voice he recognized as Kate's protested as she popped up like a weed at the side of his bed, holding her side with both hands.

"What the fuck?" He growled, glaring none too pleased that she had woken him up like that, let alone at all. "Stop bleeding all over my damn floor." He shouted at her when he noticed her heavily bleeding, the blood escaping from between her fingers, pouring out of her like there was no tomorrow. Her fingers were splayed as she gripped her side, as if she were trying to hold her blood and guts inside of her. God only knew what was on his floor, but whatever it was he didn't need her bleeding all over it.

"Sorry King Kidd, they took my brother, I have other, better things to fucking worry about!" Kate shouted back at him with more anger than he had originally used.

Well that was a first. Kidd blinked a few times, surprised by the girl's furious tone. Normally he'd have hauled off and punched her by now, but after the words she had said, they made him think twice for once. "Killer, your brother, my first mate?" He asked, rubbing any remaining sleep out of his eyes.

"Noo, my other brother." She growled, sarcasm dripping from her tone like blood from her fingers.

"What happened?" He asked, weighing the chances that Kate was just fucking with his head. But if she were just fucking with him as he wearily suspected, she wouldn't be injured, sarcastic or have a dead serious expression. She wouldn't seem to be fighting for breath, let alone fighting just to stand straight. She began quickly telling him what had happened, explaining everything after they had gotten on the deck, how everything had gone wrong. When she was done Kidd didn't know what to do. He didn't know if he wanted to beat Kate like he wanted to, kill off whoever the hell the lookout person was-they were in deep shit if he didn't kill them-, or immediately rush after Killer- who obviously couldn't take care of himself. But all Kidd said was "Why the hell did you wake me?"

Kate gaped at the man before her for a few seconds before clamping her jaw shut and with a curt nod said "Enjoy the rest of the night." Kidd could honestly say that he expected more of a response, maybe some screaming, a punch or insult or two to be thrown. "I just thought you could help me. Do what I can't- after all, the chasm that divides us is experience." She sneered that last bit at him almost bitterly.

He raised a brow, had he heard the short blonde correctly? Surely not. Yet, there had been no mistaking her words. "Really?" He asked.

"That's what Killer said, and I can see it now. Had it been you out there, Killer wouldn't have lost and I wouldn't be about to pass out right now." As if to confirm her words, she swayed dangerously, grabbing a hold of his shoulder to steady herself. When he looked at her arm then proceeded to scowl at her, she grumbled "Don't give me that look. I can hardly see or think straight, and yet here I am choking on my pride while I feed your ego." She closed her eyes tight, to try to stop the swaying in her head, to stop seeing doubles of Kidd's face.

However before he could say anything, before he could sneer any smart ass comments, or even a single word, Kate collapsed onto his floor, into a puddle of her own blood, the hand on his shoulder limply slipping off. He looked down at her, wondering how the hell she had managed the feat of getting onto his bed then proceeding to jump until she had aroused him from his slumber and last that long with such a gaping hole in her side.

Suddenly Kidd felt a bit of . . .something he couldn't- no didn't want to- place for the girl before him.

He let out a heavy sigh. Where were the bandages from the last time Killer had bandaged him? Kidd began quickly searching his drawers for the white rolls. After all he couldn't let her die, not unless it was by his hand. If it had been him, if he had been the one to harm her, he would have finished her off.

Kidd never thought he'd hesitate or stop and debate whether or not he should remove a girl's shirt when they were in his quarters. But when he realized that he'd have to remove the stained crimson half shirt of hers, what's exactly what ended up happening. Some of the white fabric was almost plastered in the wound and needed to be removed. And it was reasons like this that Kidd didn't have females on his crew. If this had been anyone else, he would have woken the doctor Killer had convinced him that they needed, and taken them there. But right now, he wasn't in the mood, plus he doubted that Kate could afford to loose that much more blood.

And it wasn't as if he didn't know how to fix her himself.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feed back?

All three greatly appreciated.


	10. Of plans and dancing

"Whoa whoa whoa! You can't be serious, that's the stupidest, most reckless plan that I've ever heard!" Kate exclaimed flailing her arms and hands wildly. "And don't you dare think that for a second that I'm not going. Because I am no matter what. It's my brother, and my fault." The short blonde stilled and glared at the red headed captain, who just as fiercely returned the glare.

A smile slowly replaced the glower that covered his face as he crossed his arms over his bare chest. "It's not my problem if you die. I am not coming to save your scrawny ass either." He said, but then decided that those words weren't enough, and proceeded to smugly ask "Got any better ideas?"

She paused, opening her mouth to answer, to spit out a plan that would wow a man as ruthless as him, but she only said "No, but why in the middle of the day? They'll see us coming a mile away, if not fifty times that!" Kidd threw his head back and laughed long and hard at the small blonde girl, the only one opposing his plan- openly at least. Yes, that was the point, for those damn marines to know the faces of the pirates who obliterated them. "I want to laugh too." She grumbled, crossing her arms, only to wince at the action. Too distracted by the pain in her side Kate didn't see Kidd's outstretching hand, but she felt it when it landed on her head and ruffled her hair. This gentle almost tender move baffled her especially when his hand was not clenched into a fist and her hair wasn't pulled.

"Let's go." He said walking off the ship as if he hadn't done anything even slightly out of character. Kate quickly recovered and followed, refusing to pay him the respect the rest of the crew was giving by letting him go before them. But instead, Kate walked next to him, trying to match his step, but her small legs were working twice as fast as his were.

The plan was simple, storm the marine base, do as much damage as possible, don't get caught, captured and or killed; find Killer and then bomb the place on the way out. All in the middle of the day, in broad daylight, where everyone could see them. Kate had to admit that only Kidd would be as bold as to walk right up to a marine base with that kind of plan. At least he had a plan. Kate would have charged in there not only blind but also by herself and probably would have died . . . no, most likely would have died.

Before the gates of the base, the Kidd Pirates stood just behind their stopped captain. Kate looked up, annoyance sparked in her eyes as she gazed up at Kidd. He looked down and sneered "Don't go running and hiding in a corner first time you hear a gunshot."

"Wouldn't dream of it Eustass." she grumbled. Not if her brother was on the other side. Not only that but she had heard a gunshot before, and hadn't run because of the sound then, why would she now?

"Don't get yourself killed either." He had to say this in a snide, almost mocking, manner, with a smug smirk on his face.

"Didn't think you cared." She shot back at him, brow furrowing and eyes narrowing.

The crew behind the pair watched them impatiently, yet mildly amused at the same time by the way their captain and the strange girl were acting and reacting with each other. They had never seen Kidd act this way with a girl. Sure he was the same hot headed captain they had always had; but he obviously cared somewhat about her, was somewhat concerned about the blonde because if he wasn't he wouldn't have let her tag along, not with her injury and her running the high risk of being a liability. Not only that but she wasn't dead, that had to count as something right?

And then he punched her hard enough to send her stumbling into the ground. But then again. . .

She got up grumbling something they couldn't make out as Kidd looked over his shoulder at the watching crew. He smiled dangerously and gave them the ok to let all hell break loose on the marine base. Almost instantly they scattered and showed no mercy to the people or the building. It was divide and conquer.

Total destruction took less than an hour to achieve. Things were smoking, bodies were screw in the slick with blood grass and every one of the Kidd Pirates was having a field day. Looking for Killer and disposing all of the attacking marines didn't take much longer. Those poor marines never stood a chance, not with their rifles and sabers, not against the Kidd Pirates and, not against Kidd and his devil fruit power. Kate stood over a few of the last marines, her gaze easily found Kidd and she proudly gloated to him that she had gotten some. In her injured state her acrobatics were quite a painful feat to accomplish, it was a lot more like flopping as the pain kicked in mid flip, kick, jump, twist or turn. Kidd however looked over at her, unimpressed saying how he had gotten the rest.

And then an argument ensued; both were beyond pissed that after all of that life threatening work they had turned up empty handed, there had been no Killer to be found, anywhere. "You said he was fucking here!" Kidd shouted at her, the argument had finally taken the turn the crew had been expecting. They stood there, only a few feet apart in the middle of the blood soaked, marine covered battlefield. Sabers impaled people, other metal assortments went through various vital places in various positions but neither man nor woman paid attention to the smoldering scene around them.

"I thought he was!" Kate shouted back, swiping the back of her hand across her eyes, wiping furious tears away from her eyes, not willing to let them fall, not in front of Kidd, not in front of his crew.

"You thought wrong."

"I know! You're a horrible pirate!" She didn't know why she randomly shouted that at him, but now it was in the air between them, it was out of her mouth. There was nothing to be done about it now that it was out of her hands.

Kidd's angry expression momentarily smoothed out into a sneer, an expression that was getting increasingly popular the more they spoke to one another. "Why thanks, that means so much coming from your mouth."

"I meant why can't you just leave me to save Killer all by my little lonesome, die trying of course, and be on your way?!" Kate grumbled, no amused by his sarcasm.

"Killer is my first mate." Kidd doubted he could stand any other bastard for his first mate, and if Kate somehow managed to save him herself- well Kidd wasn't about to let her have all of the glory or take all the credit.

"And? He's my brother." The brother card always trumped every other card anyone else could ever play, or so Kate thought.

The crew began wondering why they were now arguing at this point. They were practically saying the same things, just in different words. They both wanted to 'save' Killer, end of story.

Kidd turned away from her and began walking towards where the gates used to stand muttering about why the hell the bounty hunters hadn't gone after him. Kate watched his back for a few second before running after him, careful not to trip over any random limbs, metal pieces or bodies as she did so. "Like hell I know. But if I were a bounty hunter, I'd go after the one with a strong attachment to someone. And I'm sorry but it's just a bit obvious that I mean nothing to you!" Why was he worrying about himself and why he wasn't picked to be hunted when her brother was missing?!

"Damn straight." Kate meant nothing to him. She was simply the sister of the first mate, the one that was currently missing. With that, Kidd let a growl slip through his lips and headed back into town.

Killer stepped out onto the street. Stepping over two bodies, each with horrified expressions on their frozen faces. He saw black smoke billowing from a strategically paced marine base, a place he hadn't yet have the privilege of visiting. A small smile was unseen under his mask, but it was there. Looks like Kidd was here, and no dubitably, Kate wasn't too far behind him- if behind the man at all.

For a man that had been kidnapped and attempted to be handed over to the marines, Killer was in a fantastic mood. However, it was time to go stop his captain and sister from tearing up the entire island in search of him. The marine base, he couldn't care less about that. But the island, there was no need to let them destroy it. They had accomplished their objective, whether they knew it or not. With that he began walking towards the marine base, where they should be coming from.

"Killer!" Kate screamed running straight into him, wrapping her arms around him, her small frame making him stumble back only a step or so.

"Where the fuck were you?" Kidd growled at him, storming up behind Kate, looking none too pleased.

"Eating." Killer had been pleasantly surprised when he had found a restaurant that served Aglio e Olio, and he hadn't been about to pass that up. "Sorry." He made his voice sound sincere but no one could see the sly upturn of his lips as he said this. Killer had a reason for most things, and even though letting his sister get fatally wounded and letting himself getting kidnapped was awfully painful, it would no dubiety raise his crew members and his captain's bounties . . . and give Kate one. He let out a sigh. Kidd was supposed to have stopped Kate from following him to the marine base due to her injured state. Looks like that failed- though she was at least bandaged- quite sloppily, had she done it herself? Maybe he should check on their doctor's skills when he returned to the ship. Because of he couldn't even stitch or bandage a wound like that, they were going to have to replace him.

Kate noticed how pleased his voice sounded even as he apologized. It sounded as though he knew something that they didn't. "You planned this didn't you?" she hissed at him, pulling out of the hug enough to look up at him. "You- you don't know the things I had to put up with- and you could at least warned me, or not let me get this gaping hole in my side." She grumbled up at him.

"Why would I do that? Maybe you won't-" it wouldn't have been half as believable if she hadn't been on the deck screaming his name, tears flowing down her cheeks, helpless.

"Not a chance big brother." Kate quickly interrupted, feeling a lecture coming on about her bad talking while fighting habit that he had yet to break her of.

"As for not warning you. If I had, you would have ruined my plan." The unseen smile still on his lips was now easily heard in his voice. "Sorry to leave you uninformed. How may I make it up to you?" He asked because he figured she'd forgive him instead of holding a grudge and making him do things for her because she was playing off the wound he had allowed her to obtain.

And that was how the Kidd pirates wound up sitting at a table, looking beyond uncomfortable in the crowded nightclub. Not a single one of their drinks were touched, it wasn't because they were too busy watching the small blonde dance- well that was part of it- but none of them trusted the light pink colored liquid in the glasses before them. No one sat near Kidd either, not with the dangerous aura radiation off of him. Killer sat across from him- the closest of the out of place looking Kidd Pirates to their captain- staring at his sister, wondering where the hell she had learned to dance like that.

For Kate the club was like acrobatics. The music intoxicated her as it pounded rythmatically through her very core. The moving mass of bodies surrounding her melted away everything, even personal space. She could hardly think straight because of the volume of the music, it was almost as though she were drunk, and maybe she was.

But through all of this, she could feel a pair of eyes trailing her, following her every move, glaring at her. And every time she looked, Kate saw the same thing.

Finally Kate went over to the table, picked up the nearest untouched drink, downed its contents before engaging in a staring contest with Kidd. "What's got you so grumpy?" She asked, her chest heaving rapidly as she fought to regain her breath.

"Your dancing." he grumbled as Killer sternly said the same thing in unison.

"You're only grumpy because you're watching." Kate grabbed Kidd's hand and pulled, he didn't budge however. "I guarantee you'll like it when you're no longer sitting still." She pulled Kidd to his feet and dragged the grumbling pirate captain to the dance floor.

Killer watched as Kate began dancing with Kidd like she had every other man and even a few women. He didn't quite know how he felt about the way his captain's hands were placed on her body- even if Kate had placed them there herself- or the way their obviously two separate bodies blended together, or the smile that could be seen on Kate's face. Maybe she had forgotten that she was dancing with Kidd. That was the only exclamation of why they weren't at each other's throats. Why Kidd's ability to have children was in danger and why his hands weren't wrapped around her throat threatening her life. It would have much more fitting for them if that's what they were doing. But this was the exact opposite of that.

The damn girl before him must know what the hell she was doing to him. Kidd thought. She was moving against him in all the right sensual ways, and through the music and everything, he actually found enjoyment in the mass of moving bodies. It would have been even better had the bitch not been Kate. Maybe he should go to more clubs, he'd get laid a hell of a lot faster if he did. She changed positions so that she was facing him, smiling widely as she held her hands in the air above her head.

"Having fun yet?" She asked. Jeez, the whole entire crew looked so out of place, sitting in their corner, sulking, looking like the only think that would cheer them up would be a fight- or thirty.

"More than you know." He smirked down at her.

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A/N: Can anyone actually see Kidd dirty dancing? Lol- It's hard I know. But I had fun with this chapter.

Also, I've been debating changing the title to Necessary Roughness, so next time you look this fanfic up, if it's not on alerts or whatever, and you can't find it as Get me If You Can, and then please try Necessary Roughness- now I have to learn how to spell necessary correctly.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feed back?

All three greatly appreciated


	11. What's your opinion?

"You know I've been doing this for a long time." Kate explained before a sly smile slid over her features. "But I've yet to do it with an angry pirate captain, especially one that I despise." She giggled. How else was an abandon little eighteen year old girl who didn't want to get a job supposed to survive, but with a little pick pocketing? Her victims never knew what hit them. And it wasn't like Kate really despised the man she was dancing with, but he certainly wasn't among her favorites.

"There's a first for everything." He said to her.

"So it seems. Let me take you back to your table." She grabbed his hand and before he could give a response or protest and proceeded to do exactly that.

"Fucking tease." He grumbled, resisting the urge to slam her small body against the nearest wall and make her pay for the way she was teasing him.

She looked back at him, almost as if she were making sure that he was still there, but with an almost knowing smile, one that seemed to read 'I know what you want to do to me', a smile that Kidd couldn't help but love. "There you are, sorry I must take my leave Mr. Kidd. I've got a little shopping to do oniichan." With that Kate skipped away from the table.

Killer watched Kidd's face as he watched his sister leave.

After a second he cleared his throat, saying "Ready to go?" The rest of the crew seemed to be shell-shocked, surprised or scarred after having watched the intimate exchange between their captain and Kate, the blonde they had grown accustomed to in more or less a weeks' time.

Kidd snapped to attention, let out a grunt and asked "How long does the log pose take to set?"

"We'll be ready to leave by midnight." Killer curtly answered, getting up and leading the crew out of the club. As he did so he wondered what Kate was shopping for at this time of night, he wondered if they were going to be able to actually ditch her on this island.

"Don't do that with Kate again." Killer said matching Kidd's strides with ease.

"She initiated it." Kidd easily brushed his words away. It wasn't as though he'd listen to his first mate even if he had been the one to initiate the dancing.

"So she did. However because I'm in no position to tell you want to do, I'm requesting that-"

"I'll do whatever the fuck I want. Besides she'll be nothing but a memory tomorrow." Kidd said with a pleased smile, speaking as if there had been nothing between them as they had 'danced'. As if- as much as Killer disliked it- neither Kate nor Kidd had noticed the electricity between them, the energy they had created. But then again, maybe their indifference wasn't too bad of a thing after all.

At midnight they returned to their ship, not a trace of Kate had been seen or heard since the club she had excitedly dragged them all too. Killer had to be honest, he was slightly concerned. But Kidd, he was as happy as he could be, glad to be rid of her.

Kate stretched her arms and arched her back then sat up upon hearing the heavy sound of boot clad footsteps. Opening her eyes she saw the man she had been waiting for.

"What the fuck are you doing back little shit?"

Such nice welcoming words, Kate thought before she answered him. "Sleeping, what does it look like captain?" She asked swinging her legs off of the arm of the throne like chair so that she was sitting in it like a normal person.

Her calling him captain caught him slightly off guard. But he narrowed his red eyes and immediately growled "Get off my-"

"Right, your throne. You know you ought to have a crown to match it." She got up and gestured towards it. "It's all yours."

"Off my ship. What the hell are you doing back?" He had been so damn close to getting rid of the small blonde. So close.

"You never told me to not come back." The smile she flashed him told him that she knew that she was unwelcome and found enjoyment in bothering him with just her presence.

"Get off my ship and don't come back." Kidd looked her over and then asked "What the fuck are you wearing?" Her short sleeved white shirt that showed her stomach and light jeans had transformed into a red and black corset with a fluffy black skirt and a lace trim along the top. Her boots were the same; a few weapons were now strapped to her small body. Kidd couldn't help but admit this, but Kate looked good.

"I told you I had to go shopping." A smile wandered across Kate's lips before she shouted in an excited tone, jumping once "Now I match your theme!" She looked so proud of herself as she said this. She even held her hands out and said "I even found these cool gloves. I figured that if I was going to join the crew I should look the part."

"You're not joining." That was the last thing Kidd needed. He'd rather jump into the ocean, or come in contact with sea stone then have her join his crew.

"I'm joining the crew." Kate insisted.

"Like hell you are." The annoying girl had hardly survived the past week, and now she wanted to join the crew?! There were signs of the obvious abuse she had taken from him during the past seven days. Purple marks and lacerations of all different shapes and sized littered her bare arms, shoulders and neck, there was an ugly gash in her side, a missing necklace that was for some reason still in his pocket and her lip was split. After a second of examining her and coming to this realization, he threw his head back and laughed. She was not only a fucking tease, but a riot too.

Joining his crew was going to be the death of her, it was suicide. But who was he to stop it? It's not like the week with her had been dull, it had been far from it. It had certainly been more entertaining than the weeks, even months prior. Maybe having her on the ship and the crew wasn't that bad of an idea.

"Tough cookies." She stuck her tongue out at him before marching down to the stairs. But before she could get out of arms reach, Kidd grabbed her by the back of the corset, which revealed her shoulder blades, over half of her smooth slightly colored back. How easy would it be for him to pull the bow loose, or better yet, rip the dress off of her body?

"What is it captain?" She asked, looking over her shoulder, waiting to be hit, thrown or for him to pull her hair. Maybe he wasn't aware of it, but he was staring. "Captain?" She repeated after a few minutes, waiting for him to break out of whatever thoughts he was having. His sudden silence was quite concerning to the girl.

His eyes snapped to attention and they found her eyes before his lips moved that the word "What?" Was grumbled out.

"Will you either hit me or let me go?" She offered a smile. She was only about three percent sure that he wouldn't hit her in some way shape or form. But when he didn't instantly respond she unwisely decided to add "Or, if you want we could go-"

"Kate?" A voice interrupted her. Both Kidd and Kate turned towards the voice, the words on Kate's tongue died upon seeing the white and blue striped mask, and Kidd glared "What are you-"

"I've got news!" She interrupted Killer with a wide smile, as she suddenly remembered what Kidd had yet to actually say that she was allowed to join or not. But he didn't have an option either way. Killer waited patiently for her response. "I'm a member of the crew!" She threw her arms spontaneously into the air with a little bounce. Her attitude didn't match the almost threatening way Kidd had a hold of her.

Killer's attention shifted to his captain, waiting for his response to his sister's claim. Denial is what he was waiting for, loud, pissed off, denial. However he didn't sent his sister flying- speaking of, was she suicidal?! Wearing that, it showed everything she wasn't supposed to be showing! Killer preferred the buttons of his shirt to be undone when she was wearing it to the dress. It didn't seem that bad when compared to the revealing corset she was now clothed in. Kidd never started shouting obscenities or profanities, just looked smugly at him.

"Don't sleep with my sister." Killer grumbled under his breath. Was it bad that he could almost already hear her screams coming from behind a closed door, the ones she had yet to utter, and would hopefully never leave her lips? Killer mused to himself.

But it seemed that Kate had caught that because she sneered in a fashion not too different then Kidd's- sneering smile included- "You can't control who I sleep with."

Kidd roughly grabbed her shoulders, jerked her body around to face him and growled "What bastard said that I wanted to sleep with you?" Whoever had said it was going to die.

"No one said it." Killer said, clearing everyone's names with those few words. It was true, no individual person had said it, but Kidd and Kate's body language of course spoke louder than those unspoken words. The lustful gaze as Kidd had watched Kate leave in the club, the fact that there was a smile on Kate's face as she had danced with Kidd; all of it screamed 'let's move to the bedroom'. Not only that, but the sentence he had interrupted, he didn't even want to think about it. He didn't quite how he felt about what he hope wouldn't come next, but knew would.

"Then what gives you that fucking impression?"

"Your dancing." Killer muttered then grabbed Kate's wrist and said "I'm borrowing my sister." He bit back the sarcastic words 'you can have her later' and with that he pulled her to his room.

"What?" She huffed as Killer put one of his dirty shirts from last week around her, pulling her arms through the sleeves as if she were an infant child incapable of dressing herself, then buttoning it, all the way to the top button, ignoring the annoyed expression Kate had on her face as he did this.

"What are you wearing?" Killer finally asked.

"A red and black corset dress." She answered, stating the obvious. "You should be proud of me. I stole it. Aren't these gloves sweet?" She asked holding her hands out to show him. They were black and fingerless with a red design on them that resembled the Kidd pirates jolly roger.

"The gloves are nice." Killer said, pushing her gloved hands out of his face. "Do you realize that this is a crew made up of only men?" She nodded with an 'I don't see where this is going' look on her face. "Are you asking for trouble?" Who cared of she were armed, metal did nothing against Kidd unless it managed to reach him.

"Nope." She smiled slyly and then in a chipper voice said "Because you're my brother, and no one wants to mess with you."

"Except Kidd." He pointed out. This was Kidd's ship, Kidd's rules, and he was the one Killer was the most concerned about. "While you are my sister, I am loyal to him, meaning that I am not able to do anything except ask Kidd to stop. I can only step in only if there's an opening for me to do so.

"That's ok oniichan. And there's no need for this." She took off his polka dotted shirt, letting it drop to the floor, pooling at the back of her feet, she didn't pick it up or make a move to do so.

"Kate." He warned. "Find something other than that corset dress to wear."

"You can control what I wear as much as you can control who I sleep with."

He sighed heavily. "It's all for your safety." Maybe she'd listen after hearing that. Maybe, just maybe.

"I know. But I'm not a baby."

"I know, you haven't' been for a while. I have a question for you." He was trying to figure out how to word his question without it sounding too direct, like he was skirting around the question, without being direct of course, or acting like a child. God he felt like a child, but this was one of those matters that had to be handled delicately.

"Well, well, the tables have turned big brother. Ask away."

Killer rolled his eyes. "Depending on your response there may be multiple questions." He paused, allowing room for Kate to say something if she wanted. However, this pause was wasted; she said nothing, so he continued only after pinching the middle of the corsets top and tugged it up. It was bothering him. With Kate being such a bouncy person, someone was going to get an eyeful sooner or later. "Do you . . . 'like' Kidd?" He really wished the question didn't sound so awkward.

She only shrugged saying "Those gowd awful pants are still not only horrendous but also a major turn off. Tell him to try jeans." that had nothing to do with his question, the only reverence was Kidd, and even then it was his pants.

"I don't think I will." He wasn't about to tell her to tell him herself because there wasn't a doubt in his mind that she would do it and get hurt doing so.

"What a shame." She tsked, shaking her head almost sadly.

"How do you feel about Kidd?" Killer tried again, it didn't sound as awkward, but he doubted he'd get a straight answer from her.

"Hmmm. . .Kidd." She drew his name out as she tapped her finger against her bottom lip, audibly thinking. "How do I feel about him? Well. . . I don't know."

Killer let out an annoyed huff, this was a waste of time. "How don't you know? Maybe this will make it easier for you, what do you think about him?"

"Do I detect a bit of sarcasm in your voice big brother?" She asked, with feigned ignorance. "I love his style- not his pants though- and his hair, it's thick and oh so nice to- anyway, onto your question." Kate paused, deciding not to tell Killer how she liked pulling his hair, running her fingers through it. "He's ok I guess-"

"Let me guess, you don't quite know what you think about him either."

"Nope." Kate happily admitted popping the p of the word.

"Go to bed."

"Gladly." She stood on her tip toes and kissed the cheek of his mask before picking up the shirt, stripping out of the dress and then into what her pajamas had been for the week, just one of his shirts, the first few buttons undone. Kate crawled into his bed and asked "Will you be joining me now or later?"

"Later." With that he walked out and returned to the deck, which lacked Kidd and a conscious look out. Killer rudely woke him then went to Kidd's quarters.

"What do you want?" He asked folding his jacket over a chair pushed away from the messy desk. His goggles were missing from their usual place on his head and he was glaring at him.

"How do you feel about my sister?" He directly asked. Asking Kidd this kind of thing was harder than asking Kate. He wanted to hear what both of them had to say about the other, he wanted to observe how they answered the question, or avoided it.

"Kate?" He asked to make sure. After all it wasn't every day his first mate almost at random asked him about his emotions or opinions on a certain person.

"I only have one sister." Killer's patience was beginning to wear thin.

"I didn't know she fucking existed until she magically showed up on my ship and you told me only after the fact." Kidd grumbled. All he wanted to do was go to bed, get some sleep. Sleep sounded nice at the moment. "So who knows maybe you have a dozen other sisters."

"I don't." he quickly assured his captain. "Kate is more than enough." The very thought of thirteen Kate's was enough to give both men severe headaches.

"That fucking bitch." Was all he growled under his breath.

Killer sighed, maybe Kidd and Kate were more alike than he had originally thought. "You're thoughts about her?" He tried, hating the feeling that he was wasting his time by repeating the same thing over and over, yielding no results from his troubles.

"That fucking tease." He grumbled, glaring at Killer as if it were his fault that he had a sister, and if not that, it was his fault that his sister had danced- if that's what you could call the moving of their bodies against each other- like that.

"Is that all?" Killer tried one last, in vain attempt to get a tangible answer out of one of them.

Kidd shot him a look that at the very least said 'yes'. He didn't bother with words as Killer walked out. The rest of the night was quiet, uneventful. And it stayed like that until noon or so, when Kidd bought the paper. After buying it he went into his office and settled down before opening it.

Kidd opened the paper only to have several loose papers flutter to the floor. At first he ignored them as he skimmed the headlines with a smug smirk. He skimmed the article , his smirk growing into a toothy grin by time he reached the last word. There was a smaller article on the next page, two men's faces stared horrified back at Kidd as though the smile on his face was the cause of their fear. He recognized Killers style, and the fact they were outside a restaurant called the Pasta House.

Finally he scooped up the fallen papers and examined them before summoning Killer into his office. Maps and charts hung on the wall, books of the upcoming islands lay and a few scattered weapons and sharp jagged metal scraps rested on the floor almost randomly. The door opened and in stepped his first mate. He didn't speak, but instead waited to be spoken to. Kidd examined the top paper for the millionth time already, unsure of the emotion that had lodges itself in his chest. It was a good shot, even he had to admit, only seconds after she had flipped away from something- most likely a marine- on the edge her back was to his side, and she was smiling slightly, through the obvious pain. She looked so relaxed on the battlefield, even in her injured state, as if it were her rightful place to fight alongside the Kidd pirates. "Sixty Million." Was all he said.

"Beli?" Killer asked, recognizing the back of the paper as none other than the paper of a bounty poster. Kidd looked up from it and held it out for him to take.

"She has a bounty." He slowly said after a minute of looking over the paper, in disbelief, not knowing whether or not he should feel swelling pride in his baby sister, or go teach Kate a few new moves.

"Don't speak a single fucking word to her about it." Kidd grumbled. He didn't want to add to her damn ego. He didn't want the bitch to start marching around as if she owned his fucking ship.

Killer nodded and asked "Am I dismissed?"

"Yeah, after you tell me how long it is until we reach the next island."

"Two days." He almost instantly answered before waiting a second incase Kidd had anything else to say. But when he didn't, Killer silently walked out.

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A/N: I'm sorry a lot of it is dialog.

Next chapter I'm changing the title, it's a fair warning. So instead of get me if you can it' will be called Necessary Roughness. For sure.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feed back?


	12. You've Got Two Seconds

It was quiet for a while, as in there was no Kate to be seen or heard. However, all good things must come to an end. For Kate came bounding into Kidd's quarters holding a pair of jeans; it wasn't her light pair, but a pair of average colored, plain jeans. "Hello Mr. Captain." She landed her small ass on the edge of his desk and was jovially swinging her feet back and forth, kicking the large metal desk with each pump of her feet.

"Fuck off." He growled, not wanting to know why she had disturbed him or why she held a pair of jeans hostage in her little hands.

"After I ask you these questions." No, Kate wasn't going to ask him if he was gay, or if he wore lip stain, or how he managed to style his hair in that gravity defying way, she already had the answer to all of those questions, so why bother ask them again?

"Because it ended so well for you last time you asked me a questions." he grumbled under his breath, looking up at her.

"Maybe I feel in a bit of a masochistic mood today. Maybe I want you to pull my hair and scratch the skin off my back." If she wanted it, or claimed that she did, he wouldn't do it, right? He skeptically eyed her, then she began leaning towards him with a smile. "You know I like your eyes. They're so . . . Fascinating. Like if you let me stare into them long enough I could dr-"

"Ask your damn question and get the fuck out." he demanded growing tired and immediately weary of Kate's flattery. If she wanted to drown in something, it should be the ocean, not his eyes.

He watched her straighten up with a small smile that was wider than the one that usually found its way onto her face. "Just remember you asked for it-"

"I thought we accomplished that I'm not fucking gay and you claim that you're not an incestuous dumb ass." Kidd interrupted her before she could bring up one of those subjects, just in case she had been about to ask. And why the hell was she still wearing that corset thing?

She laughed and her hand immediately went to her shoulder, tracing the few scabs that were still there from Kidd biting her sometime last week. Kidd noted the movement with a smirk as she said "Oh, we have." He also noticed how she licked her lips then rubbed them together, still massaging the skin around the bite mark. "But that's not what I wanted to ask you on this fine day." It had been a fine day until the whirlwind known as Kate had blown into his quarters. "I wanted to ask you what in Rogers name possessed you to buy, let alone wear those pants of yours."

"Nothing possessed me."

"Well I brought you some jeans." She waved them around wildly. They weren't Killers pants; Kidd could tell that much, but other than that, who the hell was the rightful owner of them? Because it sure as hell wasn't Kate.

Kate shook her head. Leave it to a man, no leave it to Kidd, to buy the most outrageous pair of pants anyone had ever laid eyes on, and then proceed to wear them. She cocked her head to the side and asked when an idea struck her. "Is that why you did it?"

"Did what?" Why did she look like a curious animal, one annoying women would fawn over for hours while making cooing and squealing noises at the 'adorable' creature?

"Buy those pants. Was it to make a statement? Were you trying to warn people by wearing those god-awful pants? Or is your fashion sense just that bad?" Kate wondered aloud, watching as Kidd's jaw clenched, tighter and tighter with each question she rapidly fired out of her mouth.

"Do you want to die?" He managed to growl through clenched teeth. "Because I can easily arrange for it to happen."

"I thought we accomplished that I was in a masochistic mood today." She nearly sang with a smug glint in her aquamarine colored eyes.

Kidd placed both hands on his desk and slowly stood before asking "Would you like me to test that for you?"

She shrugged "I don't care. I just want you to wear something besides those god-awful pants. Because as your subordinate I am very concerned about your fashion sense." She sympathetically, against better judgment, lay a gently hand on his arm and patted it a few times.

"Two seconds." Kidd warned. This was a first; Kidd had never warned someone that he was going to hurt them. He didn't even know why he bothered to warn her in the first place.

A blue haired zombie man neared the door to the captain's quarters only for the door to splinter outwards, a blur of white blonde and red rocketed past him and slammed into the wall, leaving a gaping hole in the wall of the hall. Her legs were hooked over the jagged section of the wall she hadn't taken out. They were the only visible part of her. The zombie man looked towards where she had come flying from to see Master Kidd in the act of sitting down. Leaving but one, none too surprising conclusion to be drawn.

However because this occurrence was far from rare, or unusual, Heat made no move to help the girl, who loved to play with the fire named Eustass 'Captain' Kidd. No matter how many times Kidd had burned her, she kept coming back to poke, prod and fuel the fire. He continued on his way as if he hadn't just seen the last bit of one of their daily exchanges.

Kate lay there on her back for a few minutes, stunned- no dazed was a better word because, being thrown through a wall by Kidd was not a stunning act on his part. However, it had left her dazed as she slowly came back to her senses. Sitting up, she climbed over the hole in the wall created by her body to stand in the hall. She began waving the pair of jeans that were still clutched tightly in hand until Kidd looked up at her. When he did, she asked "So is that a no to the jeans Captain? Will you not even try something normal?"

"Fuck off." He growled at her.

This time Kate obeyed. It wasn't because his red eyes had narrowed more than usual, or that he was growling at her, but because she felt like it. She had gotten her answer, he wasn't going to try wearing anything close to being called normal, and certainly wasn't going to give the jeans she had gotten especially for him a try. She had been hoping to see if she had gotten him the right size.

She skipped down the hall with a frown on her face. The injury of the day was her leg, her left leg, the one attached to the side that had been injured. Why couldn't her injuries be balanced out per side? Oh well it would heal sooner or later. With that, Kate continued skipping; ignoring the looks, she was receiving. Some of them were 'what have you done now?' looks, others were 'she's limping' and others were wondering why the hell she was skipping and frowning at the same time.

"Hello Killer-san." Kate sang, coming to a stop, only to half collapse as her leg gave out. "Don't mind my leg." She tried to dodge the question she knew was coming.

"What happened?" He asked, failing to acknowledge her hint, the one that said I don't want to talk about what happened or how I got injured this time.

"Go ask captain." Two seconds wasn't a fair enough amount of time to ask another question, get an answer and of course leave. Kate huffed, crossing her arms, looking slightly cross as she did so.

"I'm asking you." Yes, Killer planned on getting Kidd's side of Kate's story, but he had to get her point of view first, while she was here before him.

"Two seconds." She grumbled, looking annoyed. "He gave me two seconds to do something and he didn't even tell me what I had two seconds to do. It's hardly fair."

Killer put his hand on the top of his sisters head and pat it a few times asking "When will you learn?" He had long since given up on keeping Kidd and Kate away from each other. They were like the opposite sides of two different magnets. She craved his strong reactions to everything and he enjoyed knocking her around. Or that's what made the most since as to why they were always constantly yelling and exchanging blows and insults. At least it seemed this way to Killer anyway.

"Never." She declared almost proudly.

Killer sighed heavily and said "Look out duty." that was the one thing that kept her not only out of the way but also quiet. She didn't bother anyone up there and was safe from Kidd for a while at least. But he knew that she didn't actually do the looking put part of the job anything past the thirty-minute mark.

"Okie-dokie." With those perky words Killer watched Kate half skip, half limp down the hall to the stairs that lead to the deck. Her skirt seemed to amplify the jumping motion of the skip, clearly defining each hop until Kate was out of sight. That thing of fabric, lace and ribbon, that was passed off as a dress was going to be trouble, if not now then later. Killer didn't have to be a psychic or even need to have brotherly instincts to know that. However, he also knew that telling Kate to wear something else was futile because he had already tried. It had failed miserably.

So maybe look out duty was brainless and boring, especially when there were no clouds in sight, but it was a fairly quiet job. People didn't bother her, no one by the name of Eustass Kidd could harm her from her place above the deck and she could think, sleep or practice her acrobatics. So over all it wasn't too bad of a thing to do to entertain herself, and she usually did it for hours on end. On this day however, Kate decided to hang over the edge of the crows-nest and yell excitedly at whoever came onto the deck while flailing her arms wildly with a huge smile on her face. Most of the crewmembers looked up, startled at first. When they saw that it was her, and nothing to be worried about, they looked away- some offered a small half wave or nod of acknowledgement- and continued on their way. It was in this way that Kate occupied herself for the time being.

Kate didn't bother Kidd again, as a matter of fact Kidd didn't see Kate for the rest of the day. Well she sat across the table form him at dinner, but even then, she didn't speak a word to him. Hell, she hardly glanced up or over at him. She didn't try any of her usual dinner shenanigans. She didn't try to steal his food off his plate; she didn't attempt to steal his drink either. Kate didn't taunt or tease him like usual and he didn't get the chance to throw her across the room, he didn't childishly stab her hand, slam her into anything or wind up flinging all the metal silverware at her like he had a day or so ago, and he didn't speak either. But that was because she was happily talking Killer's ears, off. He showed signs of actually listening to the mindless chatter.

Finishing rather quickly, Kidd stood and turned to leave, only to have the words "Leaving already Captain?" stop him for a few seconds. He was about to toss a few words over his shoulder at the female but decided not to respond as he continued walking out. He didn't have to explain himself to her or any other prying ears either.

Kate looked from Kidd's retreating back to Killer and back a few times until Kidd exited the galley before saying "I think I made him mad." She sprung up and announced with enthusiasm "I'm going to fix him!" Before running off. What had Kate done? She hadn't bothered him since this morning. After her shift as look out- someone had gotten annoyed with her constant yelling and waving and told her to do go something else- she had decided to go play explorer and see what kind of rooms the ship had that she hadn't been shown. Kate had been found by a surprised Killer just in time for dinner. Was Kidd still mad at her about this morning

Footsteps pounded behind him and the voice he hadn't heard since this morning shouted breathlessly behind him "Captain-sama. Captain, wait up." She repeated those words a few times until her voice hardened and she almost growled, "Hey, I'm talking to you." As she said that last bit, the back of his jacket was grabbed, as if she were trying to pull him to a stop. More on instinct than anything else Kidd turned around and swatter her off of him like one might a fly. Kate held her cheek in one hand and grumbled with narrowed eyes, "I thought we had a one injury a day policy."

"Where the fuck did you concoct that idea?" Any time she began asking those question of hers he was probably going to lose his temper and she was to get hurt. So if she asked a question and came back to ask another one, she'd get hurt again. It wasn't his problem.

She shrugged as if it didn't matter. "Are you still mad?" Wasn't him throwing her through a wall and a door supposed to make him feel better?

"At?" He questioned, no far from telling her to fuck off. Because it worked so well last time. Of course that was only after he threw her through a wall. Speaking of, they were going to need to get that fixed on the next island. Or maybe he'd have Killer take care of everything. Finding people to fix it, paying them- or just killing them so they didn't have to waste money- and whatever else needed to be done to get the damned hole fixed. His attention was brought back to the problem at hand, the one still in front of him, the one who was under the illusion that he was mad. Which he wasn't.

"For berating your pants of course." She said in a 'duh' tone of voice. With that Kidd walked away muttering something that sounded oddly similar to 'stupid bitch'. But maybe Kate was hearing wrong. "I'm sorry if I upset you." She said sprinting after him. She had to jog to keep up with his long strides.

"You didn't fucking upset me."

"Then why are you moping about capta-"

"Stop calling me that." He grumbled at her. When Kate said it, even when she sounded sincere enough, it sounded like she was mocking him, making light of his position of power.

"Why?" She inquired cocking her head to the side. Shouldn't he want her to call him captain? It's what was on his bounty poster and was his position on the crew. What was wrong with her calling him that?

"I don't need to explain myself to my subordinate." Kidd knew that the word was iffy when it came to Kate.

"You know if you fell off a cliff- into the ocean or any body of water in fact- you can just drown. I'll have no problem watching either. Hell I'll probably be the reason you fell. The only reason I want to be a part of this crew is Killer. If he fell- not that he'd be stupid enough to do so in the first place- but suppose he did- I'd dive in after him." Something she had said during her speech made Kidd smirk at her, with this 'just as I suspected' look in his eyes.

"The feeling is mutual." Though he wouldn't be able to dive into any bodies of water save his first mate, the overall message Kate was trying to convey about how much she loved him was clear.

With those words, Kate smiled, threw her arms around Kidd's torso and gave him a huge hug, being extra cautious of the golden spikes that adorned the front of his jacket.

The only reason she let go of him was because he grabbed a fistful of her hair and used that to pull her off of him. "I wouldn't do that again if I were you."

"Then good thing you're not me." she smiled cheekily at him. Kate had just learned something new about Kidd, he was huggable! With his strong chest, comfortable jacket and overall don't hug me aura that surrounded him, he was like a giant, mean, and cuddly teddy bear! The look he gave her made her smile falter and her hyper-ness calm down a bit. "Okie-dokie captain. Mind letting go of my hair now?" Kidd slowly uncurled his fingers, taking his time to loosen his grip and remove his hand from her hair. Once she was free, she smiled once more and said "See you later alligator." With that, she skipped away. Kidd had the privilege of seeing her try and hide the obvious limp in her skip. It even brought a smile to his lips as he turned to go the opposite direction she had skipped off.

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A/N: That's all I could manage on this fine day. If you haven't noticed, I changed the title t was once upon a time called Get me if you can.

Well I really hope I have kept Mr. Eustass Kidd in character and if not that he is not too ooc. I also hope that reading about Kate and Kidd is as fun as writing their adventures is for me. I wish you all happy holidays and maybe I'll get a few more chapters up before I get grounded. *Sigh*

Thoughts? Opinions? Feed back?


	13. Of lust and desire

Kate skipped down the hall only to turn around and decide to go back to the galley, where Killer was still quietly eating as if nothing had happened. She plopped down next to the almost finished man, in Kidd's usual seat happily announcing, "I fixed it."

"You did?" He asked. She couldn't see his blue eyes widen or his brow shoot up. However, what she couldn't see was made up in what she heard; the shock was audible even to her. She also couldn't see him search her neck, shoulders, or collarbone for red marks, any bleeding teeth marks. He doubted that his sister had actually 'fixed it' as she had claimed.

She nodded enthusiastically asking, "Isn't that great?" He nodded in response, wondering exactly what it was that Kate had done to improve Kidd's previously foul mood. "And I'm not even hurt!"

"That's good. However, there is a Kate sized hole in both the wall the barracks and the door to his quarters isn't exactly intact either. Would that be the reason you've been skipping today?" His theory was that she was trying to use the logic that if she used pushed whatever was injured it would get used to the strain and wouldn't hurt, or some completely illogical logic that Kate seemed to sometimes possess.

"What are you talking about?" Kate asked, obviously feigning innocence. As if she didn't know what the hell, he was talking about.

"You know very well what I mean," he said, taking up a stern tone as he did so.

"I'm going to do something that doesn't include you or Kidd." With that, Kate jumped up, having not answered his question, and ran off before he could try and stop her.

She ventured into the old dusty unused for the most part, library she had found while exploring the ship. Honestly, she had been surprised- no absolutely amazed that it even existed, let alone was even used. You could easily tell which books and documents had been used most recently, those were the places that were clean of dust. The things that had been used only a while ago had faint marks and the ones that had most likely never been even touched had inches of dust on them. After squinting through the thick dust on the spines, and several sneezing fits later, Kate decided to just grab a few things and get the heck out of there. She of course went to Killers room and lay on the top of his bed, spreading the dusty ancient looking things on the bed around her.

Killer came into his room around two a.m. to see Kate was sprawled out on top of his bed, a handful of books scattered around her. He folded down the edge of the page that her cheek wasn't resting on before gently slipping it out from under her head, trying to not wake her. He picked up the books around her and piled them at the foot of his bed. Killer sat down at the head of his bed and unlaced her boots before slipping them off of her feet and tossing them somewhere. After that, he maneuvered her limp form so that her feet were no longer at the head of his bed and so that she was covered.

That morning to mid-evening, everybody noticed the absence of the small blonde girl. They noticed the lack of screeching, yelling, bellowing, smashing, thumping, slamming and of course unconscious forms in the hall or on the deck. No one really took notice of masked man's absence. However if one were to look both could be found in the same room, respecting each other's space in the same bed.

Kate stretched her arms high above her head as she sat up with a loud yawn. Rubbing her eyes, she began shaking Killer wake. He didn't sleep with his mask on, and was sleeping peacefully on his back- a position that Kate hated, she could never understand how he could sleep like that. "Can I borrow another shirt?" She asked when he was only half-awake, only after his eyes had fluttered open.

"What time is it?" He groggily asked, still not in reality yet.

"Your clock reads three p.m." She informed his quietly. Her brother bolted upright with this 'oh shit' expression on his face before he grabbed his mask and covered his face with it.

"Why do you need another shirt?" She had more or less stolen one of his shirts already. She wasn't wearing it because she had obviously fallen asleep mid-reading because she still had her shoes on, it was still thrown carelessly under the pillow she had claimed as hers.

"Shower." She explained with only word.

He jerked his head towards the dresser and said, "You know where they are." She went over to the dresser, picked out a clean shirt and was on her way. Killer left his room not too long after his sister.

Kate looked at the tub sadly and with a heavy sigh muttered "Just a quick shower today." With that, Kate took her shower, using no cold water so that it burned oh so nicely leaving red marks where it hit. Kate examined her bruised, scrapped and battered body. There was a rainbow on the surface of her skin. A red gash marred her side, yellow, blue, green and purple bruises littered her entire body, black stitches held her blood and guts in, where they belonged, and pink was the color of her skin from the scorching water. Crimson stained white bandages had been discarded on the cool tile floor. She quickly cleaned her hair and body before just standing there in the stream of hot water, eyes closed, relaxed. After a few minutes of that, Kate turned off the water and stepped out of the tub to see that the steam was so thick that she could watch it react to her blowing out a stream of air.

Where the hell was the little bitch? Kidd wondered as he shrugged off his jacket and removed the pistol and dagger that were strapped to his chest. Surely, she hadn't learned her lesson after being thrown through the wall. After all of the other things he had done to her, and the fact that she was still on his ship, bothering him, there was simply no way in hell that she had decided to wisen up. He pulled off his goggles and tossed them at his bed too. There was also no way that he had run her off either. He tossed everything carelessly onto his unmade bed before he slipped off his boots and grabbed a towel that was laying on the floor in the middle of his room.

Thoughtlessly Kidd opened the door to other bathroom only to have thick hot steam roll past him and slowly invade the hall behind him. Someone was fucking using his bathroom! Kidd didn't have to see the slim towel clothed figure to know it was Kate .Who else would it be? He stepped into the hot muggy bathroom, dropping the towel at the threshold.

Familiar rough and calloused hands grabbed her shoulders, turned her around in one jerky motion before pushing her up against the cool wall. Kate was surprised and out of breath to say the least as she found herself staring up at a dressed less than usual Kidd. She supposed that she shouldn't have been surprised, after all it figured that since she hadn't requested Killers protection this one time that someone would barge in and of course that someone just had to be Kidd. He rested one arm slightly above her head and he was hunched down, almost to her level. His usually gravity defying red hair was darker than usual was beginning to lose its gravity defying style and his red eyes seemed to glow as the steam lazily meandered between them.

"H-hello." Kate managed to breathlessly gasp out, trying not to her eyes stray from his face. Trying not to acknowledge that his strong chest wasn't covered by his jacket or weapons of choice, or the fact that the only thing clothing her was a puny, rather fluffy, little towel.

Kidd noted her obvious distress and discomfort and with a suggestive smirk, just to claw his way under her skin asked, "How did you know I was going to shower around this time today?"

"I'm not having shower sex with you!" Kate exclaimed before clamping both hands over her mouth with the by far most terrified expression on her face, in her eyes.

He chuckled, in a slow relaxed manner that made Kate want to punch him- or knee him where it hurt, after all a punch from her meant for Kidd probably wasn't going to harm him very much. "Who said I wanted to fuck you in my shower?" He drawled.

"I'm not doing it in your bed with you either!" She managed, unable to not notice that there were only two things keeping them from rough sex right then and there. And both could easily be removed. "Anyway, to answer your question about who or what gave me the idea that you want to fuck me. Well to be honest it was the fact that you danced with me and liked it. You were getting hard too. Whether it's the lust or lack of sexual intercourse lately, you wanted me and you wanted me bad. You wanted to slam me against the nearest wall and make me pay for teasing you so merciless-" Before she could finish the last word his dark lips roughly shoved against her parted, more than unprepared ones.

Kidd couldn't watch her lips move, listen to the words coming from her mouth and restrain himself. As if that damn dress she had taken to wearing wasn't enough to drive him crazy, he just had to walk in on her coming out of his shower! A towel, a fucking black towel was the only thing she was wearing. As he listened and she continued talking, he tilted his head to the side as slowly as he was lowering himself to her lips. If she didn't react or stop him before his lips touched hers, whatever ensued wasn't his fault, because she had the chance to stop him and didn't take advantage of it. It was also her fault for being in here when he wanted to be.

Like everything else about Eustass Kidd, his kiss was rough. It was dominating, trying to be in control. But like every other time Kate encountered Kidd she fought against him. When his tongue was thrust into her unprepared mouth, she bit it and then refused to allow him entrance. When he felt her lips moving against his, pushing back, he couldn't help but smirk. He kept persistently running his tongue across the crease between her lips, but she wouldn't let him in, meaning he'd have to get a little creative to get what he wanted. He could feel her small hands moving through his hair, raking her fingers through the slightly tangled mess as he pressed his body against her, flattening her against the wall. The damp skin of her bare chest was pressed against him. Unfortunately, for Kidd there was no split in her lip like before, for him to take advantage of. He slid his free hand down her side until it rested on its curve. He paused a beat before suddenly digging his nails into her side, hoping that he was scraping against the wound that he had been forced to bandage. She tried to twist away from him, but he didn't let go, it also didn't help that she could only go so far. Instead of letting out a gasp, Kate quietly growled at him. With a frown, Kidd pulled back enough to mutter the words "Stubborn bitch." He had really thought that scraping against that wound, and even reopening it a little bit would have gotten him what he wanted. Obviously, he had thought wrong.

A smile spread across her lips, the pain evident in her eyes as she slowly opened her aquamarine colored eyes. For a few minutes, they stared at each other, their chests raising and falling against each other. The towel around Kate had slipped a little during their heated exchange, but it had not fallen, meaning there were still two easily removable obstacles between them. Their heartbeats slowed, Kate's much quicker than Kidd's, her breathing much more shallow then his. Kidd was winded but only slightly so he caught his breath first. However, he wasn't the one to speak first. No, Kate broke the silence. She pulled him so that their lips grazed each other before whispering, her breath hot against his mouth "And you call me a tease." With that, Kate gently closed the already small space between their lips and easily slipped her tongue into his mouth. Her hands slipped from his hair and were both planted on his strong muscular chest. As suddenly as it started, it was gone. She jerked away from Kidd, ducked under his arm, clutching the towel to her chest as she bent down, scooped up her clothing from the floor, and ran.

When she was out of sight, Kidd sighed heavily and rested his forehead on his forearm, muttering the words "Damn tease." She was a tease no matter what she thought. She had responded to him, every move he had made she had moved with or against him, yet the little bitch ran.

Kate only ran because it felt so good, being squished between a cool lifeless tile wall, and a fleshy mass of lust, anger and life. She had run because she knew that the two physical things that stopped him from ravaging her would soon be gone if she didn't. Not only that but their restraint, their ability to withhold and suppress their sometimes deeply buried and other times just below the surface, lust and desire would be gone. And even though Kate wasn't a virgin, the idea of losing control with a man like Eustass Kidd almost scared her, but at the same time, the idea slightly thrilled her.

Kate stopped dead in her tracks at that. Wait, what the hell was she thinking?! Not only was that man her captain, but she didn't like the man, not one bit! It wasn't as though Kate hated him; it's just that she didn't like him either. Not only that but the only things she could possibly get out of sex with a man like Kidd is a hell or a lot more bruises, pain and a lecture from Killer- which she did not want.

Poor Killer was left to try and figure out what was wrong with both Kidd and Kate, why they were acting so strange. Kate made no comments that would obviously offend or piss of Kidd, hell she hardly even looked at the man. And Kidd didn't sneer at her, make any sarcastic comments or try anything that would obviously get under his sisters skin. Any time Kate opened her mouth Kidd would growl and that would shut her up almost instantly. Sometimes they'd look up from their plates and at Killer and try to start a conversation at the same time, but ultimately that failed miserably. Killer noticed that both of them would look up at each other and Kidd would narrow his eyes at her and Kate would turn a brilliant shade of red before looking away from his captain and managing to say the word so, in a long drawn out manner that sounded more of a question. Kidd would then proceed to scowl at his food as if everything was its fault- whatever everything was.

Finally, Killer had enough of whatever he was being sucked into, and silently stood and left those two alone to themselves. Maybe when he came across one or both of them later they'd be magically cured. On his way out Killer heard Kidd mutter something and Kate grumble the words 'really oniichan?' as their eyes followed him out of the galley.

Killer just had to fucking leave without taking his damn sister, who was currently staring him while obviously debating saying something or not. "So how about that-" She began.

Looking up from his food and thoughts he growled "Shut the fuck up." before she could even finish her sentence. And before Kate could respond, or say anything else Kidd stood and followed in Killers footsteps, only he stormed out of the galley, making his exit well known, unlike her brother had, leaving her by herself.

Was the weather such a bad thing to talk about? Kate wondered to herself as she watched Kidd leave

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feed back?

All three greatly appreciated.


	14. Bad Moods and Hand Holding

A high pitched scream, not too different form the one Kate had let loose when she had first appeared on Kidd's ship, echoed in the air around the Kidd pirates. A different name was on her lips this time as the small blonde pushed her way through them, pushing past Kidd the roughest. He glared at her as she ran and attached herself to a person with long loosely pulled back black hair.

Kate was overjoyed when she saw familiar sun kissed skin, long black hair and familiar lanky frame. "Jay-jay!" She shouted as she ran towards him. When he saw her familiar blonde hair, short figure and aqua marine eyes racing towards him he uncrossed his arms and pushed away from the brick wall he had been holding up. When she reached him he put his hands on her hips and smiled as she jumped, wrapping her legs tightly around his waist. Her soft lips found his seemingly awaiting ones.

The Kidd pirates came to a halt behind their frozen captain and first mate.

Kate's back didn't see Killer pull out his blades, but she could feel Kidd's glare as if he were trying to hurt her by just glaring. Pulling away she giggled as his hands raked through her short hair. "You got a haircut." He stated, pointing out the obvious.

She nodded vigorously, kissed him again and said with a wide smile "Uh-huh, my big brother did it. Do you like?"

"Big brother?" he questioned, looking over her shoulder at the entourage behind Kate, as if just realizing that they were there, that they had an audience. "Can I safely assume that the masked blonde is your brother?" There was a pause where Kate nodded before he inquired, "And the intimidating redhead is who?"

She laughed, resting eh forehead against his, staring into one black eye. The other was covered by a black eye patch. Her fingers lightly traced the faint scar that ran parallel to his hair line, starting at the middle of his forehead and ending a few inches above his ear. Finally she whispered "That man is my captain."

"I like the dress." He said, not really caring as long as they weren't in a relationship with his Kate, ignoring the death glares he was receiving from the redheaded man she called her captain.

Instantly she dropped to her feet and twirled around with a smile, the black skirt flaring out as she did so. Coming to a stop she said "Why thank you." before curtsying. Straightening up she hugged again, lifting her face to kiss him yet another time as she pulled back. She couldn't get enough of him.

Was Killer really seeing correctly? Was his sister really shoving her tongue down that . . . man's throat? Forget the shock of walking in on Kate and Kidd; this made that look . . . normal.

Kidd stared at Kate, with only two thoughts running through his head at that moment. One being, that fucking whore. And the other, not only was Kate incestuous but she was into girls too!

Pulling away Kate turned to face the Kidd pirates, looking surprised when she was Killer in a fighting stance, and Kidd glaring as if he wished they'd drop dead together. A smile appeared on her face before she looked at Kidd and sneered, "Jealous I won't do this to you?" Jay-jay's arms wrapped around her waist and his chin rested on the top of her head. But before Kidd could say or do anything she quickly began introducing them. "Jay-jay, this is Killer, my oniichan." She gestured to the masked blonde who looked like he was about to attack them. "And Kidd, my captain as previously stated." She gestured to the glaring redhead who she loved to bother oh so much. "Kidd, Killer, this is Jay-jay."

All three men regarded each other coolly through narrowed eyes, studying each other, seizing the other up. But Killer being far more diplomatic then his captain spoke first, in a cool clipped and curt tone of voice. "Hello." It was short and sweet, but brought a visible smile to face of the raven haired man's face, and of course satisfied Kate; who obviously wanted them to all get along and like each other. Then he directed his attention down a few inches and to his sister. She was leaning back against the man acting as though they were very familiar with each other. But he was positive that they had never once crossed paths. His arms were wrapped around her waist, holding Kate against him. "Kate." He said slowly. "And you know," He paused, and said the name rather unsurely "Jay-jay-"

"Call me Jarodeth." The man interrupted Killer, who found the name Jarodeth much more fitting then the name Kate had introduced him as.

"Clubbing." Kate exclaimed, throwing her arms up as she popped to the balls of her feet for a total of a few seconds. "Where else would have we have met?" Kate asked him, without him having even finished his question.

Right, of course. Killer thought to himself. Where else?

"So what are you doing here short stuff?" He asked her.

Kidd watched as Kate smiled, he watched her reach arms up and give the man an upside-down hug. Kate didn't bristle or yell about how she wasn't short even though she was a little under a foot shorter than him. No, she only smiled almost fondly and answered him. "Traveling with my captain. What about you? What are you doing here? I would have never thought I'd see you after I left."

"When you left I decided to travel a bit, landed here and decided to stay." He shrugged. Kate could feel the movement of his chest and shoulders at her back.

"Any good- Hey wait up!" Kate looked back to Kidd and Killer only to see them walking away. She twisted out of the lanky man's arms and dashed after her brother and Kidd. "Where are you going?" She shouted waving wildly at their backs as she caught up with them. She could feel Kidd's bad mood radiating off of him from her place several feet away from the man.

The man Kate had left behind peeled away from the wall and slowly meandered after the group and of course Kate. "Kate." He lazily called out after passing a club. "I'll catch you later."

"K, just follow the path of destruction and you'll be sure to find me." She offered a smile over her shoulder before turning around and keeping up with Kidd and Killer. Looking over at the redhead she asked "Why the bad mood?" Kate had been addressing Kidd but that didn't stop Killer from asking a question of his own.

"How do you know Jarodeth?" His words were slow and carefully chosen, his tone remained neutral to hide any emotion that might make Kate on edge, or suspicious and therefore not answer him.

"I told you, clubbing. Not only that big brother, but I have a love life before Ki- in your three year absence." Kate answered.

Both Killer and Kidd caught Kate's self-correction. Killer decided not to dwell on that fact, while Kidd smirked and wondered what the hell Kate considered a 'love life', because what they had certainly wasn't love, let alone a love life.

"I see." Killer carefully answered before asking "For how long? And did you-"

"Have sex." Kate sighed, completing his sentence, which wasn't going to end with that. She had obviously interpreted his words incorrectly. "Yes, many times, many places. And I refuse to elaborate. We- hmm m. . . . I-would you count leaving someone with no contact for six months still in a relationship? Kate asked.

"No." considering a relationship was the connection between two or more things- in this case, two people- a six month absence without even a letter, or a transponder snail could hardly be considered a relationship. And if Kate was asking to verify whether or not she and Jarodeth were still in a relationship, they weren't.

"Ok then. Three years minus six months is two and a half years. We were together for a year and a half." Kate quickly reached that conclusion after trying to verbally keep track of the math she thought was necessary to inform Killer how long she and Jarodeth had been.

"I see." Was all Killer offered. He wouldn't say stay away from him- look how well that had turned out with her and Kidd. He knew that she wouldn't listen. And telling her that the man made him feel slightly uneasy would only send Kate ranting and raving about how it was because they had sex and how they had been in a relationship that he felt this way about Jarodeth.

So they got a hotel- the less conventional way of course- picked rooms, captain got first dibs and the rest was like being fed to the wolves. Luckily Kate just strolled into Killers claimed room and announced that she was going to crash there with him. And whether or not he agreed or disagreed was completely irrelevant.

"How long till the thingy sets." Kate asked, happily bounding around the room.

Killer raised an eyebrow and asked "Thingy?" With Kate, any time she couldn't think of what something was called, it was automatically called a thingy, meaning it could be just about anything.

"Yeah, the grand line navigator compass thingy."

"Log pose." Killer slowly said then said her name and when he had her full, non-bouncing attention asked "How did you find the ship?"

She shrugged. "Don't know, don't care. I found it and that's all that matters."

Killer let out a chuckle. Damn Kate was lucky. The currents of the Grand Line hadn't been the death of her and Kidd had yet to be the death of her. "About two weeks and it will be set." He told her.

"Two weeks? A full fourteen days!?" Kate groaned flopping back dramatically onto the bed for a grand total of a few seconds. During those few seconds one might have been able to hear a pin drop onto the carpeted floor. It was the quietest a room with Kate had ever been.

Her thoughts weren't silent though and when she suddenly bolted upright exclaiming "A full fourteen days!" with a wide on her face she shattered the silence between her and Killer.

He was instantly weary of that excited smile, the glint of joy and excitement in her eyes. "Yes Kate, that's how long two weeks is."

She waved her hand dismissively, waving his slightly sarcastic words away before saying "I know, I know. But a full two weeks!"

When she began literally bouncing with excitement, Killer turned and walked out. When Kate did that, Killer drew the line. However, who was he to burst her bubble of obvious joy? God only knew it would be popped by Kidd by the end of the day.

Kate was scarcely seen during the next few days and she was heard even less. The only time Killer saw her was when he went to bed. The only time Kidd saw her was in passing or if she were leaving the hotel. But both men knew where she was and who she was with.

A blonde man flashing pearly white teeth as he brushed his hair out of his caramel colored eyes as he examined the picture before him as well as the information that had been verbally presented to him. The girl the man before him had described sounded pleasant, easy to get along with and of course adventurous, meaning that they would be a much better match then the last one. "A girl with a bounty." He drawled, lifting his eyes from the poster of her. Her eyes were an unusual aquamarine color and he was already in love with that fierce smile on her face. With the battlefield around her, she looked relaxed and he liked that. "I like that. Present her to me tomorrow night."

The man with long hair and one eye nodded, bowed to the blonde but before he left decided to add a few words of wisdom. "I know her well and it would be ideal if you didn't dress so expensively." He gestured to the black and gold garb he was wearing. "Oh, and I'll hand her off in exchange for my reward. No reward, no bride." With that he left, there was nothing left to say.

Kate begrudgingly sat across form Kidd, next to Killer, in a dirty, dingy bar. They were waiting for their food and she obviously wasn't too pleased to be there. But with Jarodeth unable to be out with her, what else did she have to do? Not only that but Killer had forced her to tag along with them. That's when she noticed Kidd staring only seconds before asking "What's up your ass?"

He was used to Kate being an annoying ball of thoughtless energy, not the pouting, sulking with her arms crossed, slumped in her seat blonde that sat across from him. A frown was fixed on her lips and she was glaring, her eyes not focusing on anything in particular.

She blinked, her eyes coming into focus and narrowing as they met his. "Not your dick." Kate instantly snapped, earning a sharp look from Killer and a few slackened jaws as the crew gaped at her.

"We can fix that?" He responded. Fuck the fact that they were in a well-populated bar, and had a large audience.

"Don't touch me." Kate growled, picking up one of the many forks on the table and brandishing it. "I'm not in the mood." Maybe her weapon would stop him if he decided to move into her space from across the table. The crew expected Kidd to say or do something to purposely shove Kate over the edge. However, they were in shock when he uncharacteristically backed down. "What, no comebacks, no sneering remarks?" She growled at Kidd. The crew hadn't been the only ones to notice him not respond. "No punches or punishments for being oh so rude to my high and mighty captain?" She grumbled at him.

"Would you like me to do one of those things?" this is what he got for being nice for once, for backing down. It was as though she were trying to get him to react how he usually would.

She only shrugged and Killer decided to interrupt whatever she had been about to say and answer for her. "No."

Kidd opened his mouth to reply but plates of food were put down on the table before them. When Kate muttered a word of thanks the man serving them jumped with a yelp of surprise before he quickly scurried off. Killer reached over and rubbed a few meant to be comforting circles on Kate's back.

She stared almost unblinkingly at Kidd as he stared back at her, trying to figure out what was wrong, as they both ate.

Kidd soon lost the patience it would take to figure out what was wrong with Kate and began talking, eating, drinking and laughing with the rest of the Kidd pirates. Kate soon followed suit. Slowly her smile returned, and then her voice and it seemed that she was cured.

"To the emperor's new bride!" a group of loud guys cheered at the bar, clanking their mugs together, sloshing their drinks onto their hands and the bar.

Kate shot the group of celebrating men a sharp glare before returning to her food and the conversation at hand. Kidd however engaged as he seemed in the conversation his crew was having, wasn't. Only when the crew began noticing the smile spread across Kidd's dark lips did some of the members freeze. Other members lowered their silverware or drinks but they all came to an eventual silence, except for Killer and Kate. Killer knew that Kidd had been listening to the entire conversation of the drinking men's conversation as it went into details of a grand banquet and a dance where they might be able to meet beautiful women they didn't stand even a small chance with. Killer listened closely incase his captain would later need the information. As for Kate, she was oblivious until she looked up and across the table, after finishing a bite she asked "What's with the deliciously sinister smile captain?"

"You would want to know wouldn't you?" he sneered at her.

"Yes, I would like that very much." She earnestly replied.

"Tough fucking cookies." He mocked her words but adding a twist of his own to the phrase. The stupefied crew was shocked into complete silence. Had they heard their captain correctly? As they did this Kate stared at him for those near silent moments before she burst out laughing, throwing her head back and hitting her head on the back of the chair. As the pain shot through the back of her head, and turned into a headache, she began laughing harder, drawing the attention of the drunken patrons of the bar. Everyone who knew Kate exchanged 'is she ok or had she finally lost it?' looks. To be honest with her, it was a toss-up.

Kate fought for control as the words though fucking cookies echoed through her mind over and over again. And those words just had to come from Kidd's mouth! It was far too good to be true. "Ooooh god," Kate gasped for breath after she formed those two words around her bubbling over laughter. "N-never say that if you want to be taken seriously." Just when the crew thought she had been magically cured, Kate erupted into yet another laughing fit. It had built itself up behind her quivering lips and when she had tried to breathe, it had found its way to escape, out into the air around her.

Kidd gave her a look that resembled a man being handed a crying baby, he didn't know what the hell to do with 'it'. "Are you ok?" He slowly asked her before looking at Killer; maybe he had the answer, after all the previously sulking, now laughing and crying mess before him was somehow related to him. But that theory was quickly proven wrong when the masked man lifted his polka dotted shoulders almost apologetically.

While it had been obvious that Kate didn't want to be there at first and why, her sudden mood shift and laughter left something for Killer to be concerned about . . .unless . . .Killer leaned over and into Kate's ear, as best as he could and asked "Are you on 'it'?"

She momentarily froze, repeating the last word "It?" A few seconds later she got what this 'it' she was supposedly on was and the word 'oooooh' soon followed her realization. Giggling Kate smiled saying "No silly, that's- well it might be close." She pondered aloud. The listening crew and Captain had of course missed the most important part of Killer and Kate's conversation. "Why do you ask?" She asked leaning her forehead against the cool metal of her big brothers mask. Sighing she pulled away, wiped the lingering tears and settled into the state of bleh she had been in before.

Kidd, having not forgotten what Kate had asked and decided that he'd relinquish just enough information to keep Kate thinking, and out of the mood that she had returned to. He decided that he hated seeing Kate in that mood unless he was the reason of it. And today, right now, he wasn't the reason why. "Let's just say that we'll have higher bounties after we're done with this fucking island." Fortunately for Kidd Kate didn't notice his error. He was lucky that when he said we, not I, Kate figured that he had meant him and Killer. Never, not once did the ridiculous idea cross Kate's mind that when Kidd had made the mistake of saying we, he had actually meant him and her. After all, as far as she was concerned, she didn't even have a bounty.

Kidd sat back, smugly watching her mood come undone. The sly, thoughtful smile was the first sign that crept onto her face, across her soft lips. Then a glint in her eyes didn't fail to follow as her arms slowly uncrossed and she rested her elbows on the edge of the table, and her chin between her two fists.

Higher bounties? Those words were so vague, oh so painfully murky and unclear. The possibilities were almost endless with a man like Eustass Kidd and it sent a shudder of cool anticipation and excitement through her body. But with a man like Eustass Kidd, whatever it was it was sure to be loud, showy and over the top. Kate would be lying if she said that she wanted no part of whatever half cooked plan he might already have in the pea brain of his.

Kate of course failed to notice the crew pushing back their chairs leaving the table and then leaving the bar. Hell it wasn't until someone's cool finger tapped her bare shoulder that Kate was even brought out of her thoughts. Blinking she saw that there was no Kidd in front of her, just an empty mug and a dirty plate. Kate looked besides her to see a neatly pushed in chair but no Killer. She then looked to see who had been kind enough to not leave her to her thoughts while they all left. It was a yellow mohawked man that she had seen around a few times but she couldn't recall his name for the life of her. She muttered a word of thanks before racing out of the bar and into the crisp night. A cool breeze danced over her bare shoulders, back, chest and arms, making Kate shudder as she looked left then right searching the streets before her eyes landed on the outrageous entourage belonging to Kidd. Upon seeing them Kate began running to catch up the leader of the group.

Kidd sharply looked down when something warm and fleshy slipped into his hand, another hand, he realized. His harsh eyes met soft ones as she swung their clasped hands and connecting arms in the space between them, like a child might. When he frowned at her, she quickly flashed a smile up at him, not releasing his hand. For a few moments they walked in silence, Kate having decided to say nothing. Kate had a feeling that if he really wanted her to let go, Kidd would find some painful way to do so.

A few minutes of comfortable silence later and Kate decided to change her mind. So she looked up at Kidd and playfully asked "Not going to remove your hand from mine?" The small content smile on her lips widened. "Does that mean that you like it there?" She watched him watching her from the corner of his eyes; she could see the smug smirk playing on his lips as his grip on her hand tightened. Kate didn't know what to think of Kidd's public display of affection. Hand holding, she was holding hands with Kidd, a gentle and tame act! True she had not only done it on a whim but also on impulse to annoy Kidd, but that obviously hadn't worked because they were now displaying affection . . . publically!

Killer watched his sister slip her hand into Kidd's. He watched as Kidd's fingers curled around Kat's small hand, their fingers laced together. He watched him look down and her smile up at him, they evenly held each other's gazes. From Killers vantage point at this moment, if all of the times he had found Kate unconscious, the numerous bruises scrapes and bites Kate had received, all of their shouting, the shouted profanities, and the fights were to be momentarily forgotten, then his baby sister and his captain looked like a . . . cute . . . dare he even think it? . . . couple.

Killer considered many plans of action to get them apart, to end it before it began. God forbid one of them would spontaneously combust if this continued to go on. However, being the considerate first mate and older brother that Killer was, he decided that just this once he would let them enjoy the sweet moment.

It wasn't until they began heading to the same room that Killer put a stop to things. Killer would prefer not hearing Kate's screams of pleasure and pain through the thin walls of the hotel rooms. "Kate." He firmly said. She looked over her shoulder and then up at Kidd. "Can I sleep with-"

"No." Killer cut in. No way in hell were they sleeping together, no sleep would be had if they did.

"Your jacket tonight?" It's mighty comfy and-". Kate tried, her face turning bright red as she realized exactly what it was her brother was protesting

"No." at the same time they slowly released each other's hand. "But nice fucking try." He grumbled, the sting of disappointment wasn't an emotion that Eustass Kidd was familiar with. However he had the feeling that the only reason the blonde whore had grabbed his hand was to butter him up before fucking asking for his damn jacket. He supposed he should have known better.

Kate smiled, caught Kidd's hand before her entered his temporarily claimed room. When he shot her a glare that should have rendered her petrified, Kate pushed down the feeling, ignoring the potential danger before she pushed herself up to her tiptoes and touched her lips to his pale cheek, whispering "Good night." As she pulled away, lowering back to her normal height before she swiftly turned around and ran down the hall where Killer was. She waved to Kidd before ducking into the room that had been claimed as hers and Killers.

He poked his head into the room and said "I'll be back soon."

Kate nodded and climbed into the bed as Killer walked to Kidd's room, knowing that Kidd wanted to see him and why. For a while both men talked, going over the details they had heard and when their assault on the bridal unveiling, hosted by the emperor of the surrounding islands that were considered one.

Kate had decided to go to bed instead of waiting up for Killer to come to the room so she could pester Kidd's plans out of him. Having dinner with the Kidd pirates, multiple mood swings and showing affection to Kidd was all very exhausting after all.

She was asleep until she heard the sound of something scraping against something reached her ears through her unconscious state and shattered it. Kate lay in bed, tense as a movement just inside the window caught her attention. The window was wide open letting the cool night air sweep into the room. Kate didn't remember having touched, let alone having opened the window. She tensed even more when a human shaped figure straightened to its full height and began moving towards her bed. As the silhouette did so, Kate began formulating plans of action, wondering who the hell was stupid enough to try and take on a Kidd pirate. True she was female, and true Kate was probably not among the strongest of the Kidd pirates. But she was still a Kidd pirate, even if the captain said otherwise.

Or maybe the person was hopelessly lost. Kate thought. Yeah that had to be it. Well either way, if it got any closer to her then she was going to freak out.

"My, my you're in bed quite early tonight. You know the clubs don't close for another two and a half hours."

Upon hearing the figures voice, Kate launched a pillow at it.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?


	15. Going Out

Quietly and nervously Kate asked "Jay-Jay?" what if that wasn't her beloved clubbing partner and ex? Well she was screwed if it wasn't him.

The pillow hit him in the face, as intended with a satisfying thwack sound before it fell to the floor with a quiet muffled sound. "I thought we couldn't go out tonight. That you were taking care of something." Her eyes narrowed. She had suffered though dinner with the Kidd pirates, shown affection to Kidd and wasn't rewarded with Kidd's jacket, or return of her necklace, when she could have gone dancing, drinking, and having a good time with Jay-jay. Good times were very limited with Kidd.

"I know but I finished. The night is still young-"

"It's," Kate tossed a look at the clock on the night table, ", ten till two. Night clubs close at three."

"I know. So let's enjoy ourselves while we still can." He held his tanned hand out to the glaring blonde still sitting in her bed. From there it wasn't hard convincing Kate to take his hand. Getting Kate to agree to sneak out wasn't a difficult task either. They climbed out of the window he had entered through.

When Killer finally made his way to his and Kate's room, he saw that the bed was void of Kate. Pillows nowhere near as shapely as Kate took her place in the bed under the blankets. A fleeing shadow moving out of the window caught Killers attention. Instinctively Killer followed it.

They slowly approached the lively club; music pulsed beneath their feet from the building across the street. Jarodeth watched as Kate smiled up at him, grabbed his hand and dragged him excitedly through the front doors.

This was going to be easier then he thought.

Kate half danced half pushed her way through the mass of moving bodies with expertise, not letting go of his hand as she did so. After finding a place large enough for the both of them Kate stopped, pulled Jay-jay close and began dancing against him like she had the previous few nights. His hands held her waist that was grinding against him; her arms were stretched over her head, her back pressed to his chest. Lights of every color bathed them and the dance floor. The music that shook their bodies to its beat made it hard to think, hard to worry and hard to talk, yet easy to move. But Kate being Kate tried anyway. "Remember the night we first met?" She shouted perfectly timing the question as one song ended and the next began almost immediately after.

"It's hard to forget." They both smiled at the memory of her getting caught pickpocketing while dancing for the first and only time. They had both come alone and hadn't left that way. "Want something to drink?" He shouted into her ear.

"Yeah, something fruity please." Even though Kate could shoot whiskey, and could handle her liquor, she wasn't in the mood. Hell she could almost already taste the fruity concoction.

With that Kate lost her dance partner, leaving room for Kidd to invade her thoughts. She began comparing their two dancing. She could almost feel him behind her once more. Jay-Jay was experienced, while Kate had the honors of being Kidd's first dance partner; after all clubbing obviously wasn't his or the Kidd pirates thing- unlike bars and bar fights. Yet at the same time Kidd knew how to touch her and make her bend to his will. And he sure as hell wasn't cautious or shy, hell he couldn't care less about the boundaries of hers he might have pushed. Unlike Jay-jay who always made sure that this was ok or that wasn't too far. It was sweet and considerate, part of the reason she had fallen for him. Not only that but he was always up for a friendly sparring match. They were so different, their dancing and her thoughts of both of them varied greatly. But before Kate could mentally compare them beyond their dancing skills Jay-jay came back with a glass of neon colored something or other and a glass of some clear drink that she doubted was water. He handed her the neon filled glass.

She took a long drink draining the contents after a shouted word of thanks. Kate did a few spins, stopping when she faced him, a broad smile on her face. Joy and liveliness were clear in her eyes, Kate was glowing. She was having so much fun that it almost pained him to do this to her . . . almost.

Jarodeth's concerned face blurred in and out of focus as her head swam. The noise of the music seemed to fade into background noise and she didn't quite know how to describe the feeling inside of her, but her head now felt as fuzzy as her vision was. Then something dawned on her, slowly through the music and through her thick murky thoughts. His now nervous and anxious expression clicked with her dulling senses.

He was hoping that it would take affect before Kate came to the realization that anything was wrong, that anything was going on. But fate wouldn't have it. Jarodeth watched the light die in her blue eyes only to be replaced by foggy anger. So it was working. He was assured. Kate balled her hand into a fist before she punched him in the jaw. The words on the tip of her tongue died before she could shout any words at him.

Killer perched on the rooftop of the building across from the club Kate had dragged Jarodeth into. He had been systematically watching all of the exits for them to come out. Killer didn't trust the man, he was the reason Kate had been pouting not a few hours ago. But now he was free to go clubbing? Killer hoped that he wasn't losing sleep for no reason, he hoped that he wasn't stalking his sister for no reason; not that he wanted her to wind up needing his help.

Finally his patience paid off because the raven haired man walked out of the club carrying his sister bridal style, her form limp and silent in his arms.

And this was why Killer stalked his sister at the early hours of the morning. He followed them lazily as they got farther and farther from their hotel. The man Kate so fondly called Jay-jay stopped at a bridge, on that Killer knew from the maps he had studied, connected this particular island to the central island. The set up was similar to that of a wheel with spokes. Each island was connected by a high off the water bridge that encircled the central island, they even spun too. The central island was not only where the emperor resided but was where the unveiling party was to be hosted.

He stood at the mouth of the bridge, watching it with Kate being limply held in his arms, as if he were waiting for something or someone. Killer waited just as patiently on the rooftop closest to the bridge, carefully watching both the bridge and the man.

A movement in the distance on the bridge caught Killers attention. Slowly it came into view. There were two people side by side, each with a golden carved pole on their shoulders. There was another two people behind them supporting the end of the poles. Between the four men was more or less a box with thin pale colored curtains were drawn and small cushions. When they reached Jarodeth they came to a collective stop before setting it down. One man took Kate from his arms as another man pulled the curtains aside as he turned around and yet another man produced a pouch from their pocket. He dropped it onto Jarodeth's awaiting hand. After Kate was gently placed in it they turned around, simultaneously picked it up and marched away.

Killer dropped down almost casually from the rooftop behind Jarodeth and leaned against the building. He waited for the man to turn around to see him waiting. And when he did, he didn't notice Killer. Instead he walked right past him. Killer let him get a few feet farther before pushing away from the cool brick saying "Hello Jay-jay." He made sure to not only use the distasteful nickname Kate had branded him with, but also made sure that the two words were spoken casually; in a fashion that didn't need to be sneered, growled or snarled to be able to hear the danger in his voice. The man turned- no whorled- around, a deep green rectangular shaped gem slipped from his hand with a quiet tink as recognition registered in his black eyes, the large rock forgotten. The smile that had been on his face dropped instantly off of his face, but found its way onto Killers concealed lips. "Going somewhere with that?" He drawled taking a few lazy steps towards the man who backed up with each step Killer took forwards.

To be honest, Killer felt like a cat playing with its prey before ending its miserable life. The bag he had received was obviously the incentive that had gotten him to five Kate, who had, from his understanding, at one point of time, his lover. He was going to enjoy this, every last second. Oh how Killer was going to savor each small laceration created by a swipe of his blade, every sound of pain that would escape the despicable man's lips, and every crunch or crack that would come from whichever bone he was going to break.

Ok so maybe Killer was an overprotective brother. But he was not doting; he still wasn't a doting older brother.

What he had done to the pair of bounty hunters was child's play, he hadn't even been serious then, just slit one of their throats and let the other bleed out.

"Those jewels aren't the only things about to be mine." His smile widened when the man didn't get the joke, or maybe it simply wasn't funny to him.

All was silent as a blonde man picked up a cold rectangular emerald. He examined it briefly before dropping it into the drawstring bag as he walked away from the form of the man Kate once loved. Good thing it wasn't scratched.

It was about one thirty p.m. and Killer had yet to be seen and Kate had yet to be heard, which was odd. None of the other crewmembers had seen them and the door to the room they were sharing had been kicked down by a red headed man too lazy to use his devil fruit abilities to unlock it. Unfortunately it had been in vain. Neither Killer nor Kate was in the room and the only thing in the bed was a few pillows laid out in a suspicious attempt to form the shape of a person . . . maybe? Kidd hadn't been too sure about that since it was far too flat to be anything human and far too short to even be Kate.

Kidd threw open the door of the hotel only to stop short, a certain blonde man standing there in his way. "Where the hell have you been?" He grumbled at his first mate.

"Kate is going to be the emperor's bride." Killer coolly said almost nonchalantly.

"So?" Kidd asked not seeing the point of having been told this information.

"What are we going to do?" Killer inquired picking up on his captain's irritated mood.

"Nothing." Nothing was going to change. Not their plans, not their timing nor the amount of damage. "And you're not doing anything either." He told Killer. He wasn't going to be the damn knight in shining armor; he wasn't going to save the damn day or the fucking damsel in distress.

Killer nodded and gave up without a fight, one Kidd had anticipated. After all it was his sister they were going to leave behind. "Here." He said before proceeding to hold out a peacock blue drawstring bag. It was only a little lighter than it had been when he had collected it last night.

Kidd gave him a suspicious, 'what the fuck did you do to get this?' look, but didn't say anything as he crammed it into his pocket. Kidd remained silent as he roughly shoved past Killer, making sure to knock into his shoulder.

Kate bolted upright, ready to start throwing fists and spitting fire only to stop upon seeing towering arched windows, bright daylight filtering into the room and fluffy clouds lazily rolling by outside.

Where the hell was she?! Kate wildly wondered looking around, trying to take in her surroundings.

The walls were a pretty fiery red with white columns branching near the top to expertly merge with the very high carved celling. There were about four different doors along the walls of the room. It was open and spacious. The furnishing was expensive looking and extravagant. There were some expensive looking chairs that littered the wall and a vanity with a large mirror near one of the doors that rested between two of the white columns.

Not knowing what else to do Kate pinched the skin of her arm. When the slight prick of pain failed to wake her up Kate brought her wrist up to her mouth figuring that she needed something more painful to work as she bit down until she tasted blood. Frowning Kate looked around once more. So she wasn't dreaming? So that meant that Jarodeth had really drugged her? Suddenly that mite mark left on her wrist and the taste of blood didn't seem that bad.

Well no need to sit down and cry about it. Kate decided swinging her feet to the side of the bed after throwing back the black comforter and purple sheets that matched nothing. Someone had a good taste in colors though. Kate thought before letting out a scream, she was quick to clamp her hands over her mouth as she stared in horror down at herself.

Who the hell had changed her?! Kate furiously wondered. The . . . thing . . . was a royal blue with spaghetti straps and only reached a few inches above her knees. The neckline would drive Kidd crazy; make Killer mad at her and her very uncomfortable to be honest. Where was her corset dress? The one that had made Kidd do a double take when he had first saw her in it, the one Killer wished she didn't wear, especially around Kidd, the one that was a hell of a lot better than this blue silk thingy.

Not seconds after her scream the largest door of the spacious room burst open and a woman rushed in, scanning it with narrowed eyes before straightening from her defensive position, looking at Kate and asking "What?"

"What?" Kate repeated snatching the sheets and holding them up to her chest, as she had the towel when Kidd had barged into the bathroom after her shower. "Who the hell are you?"

The woman was maybe her age with long loosely braided dark purple colored hair and black eyes that reminded her of Jarodeth. She gently closed the door before saying with a sigh and a roll of her eyes. "You've been chosen to be the bride of Master Yui."

Kate began choking on air at those words. "E-e-excuse m-m?" Kate managed to gasp out. Had she heard correctly? God, there was no way she had. The bride of some idiot named Yui? Wait, did that mean that Jarodeth had sold her?!

"Yeah, you're the twenty-ninth bride. I wouldn't feel too special if I were you." She said in a relaxed manner, as if she couldn't care less. "So I hear you're a pirate."

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I hoped you guys liked that really super long chapter a few chapters back. I didn't mean to make it so long. Sorry for all the errors in all of the chapters. I'm going to go back and revise them all before a post anymore chapters.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?


	16. Where's what?

"Yeah, my-" Kate stopped her sentence in its tracks, only for the woman to roll her eyes and for her to continue her sentence.

"Let me guess, your captain is going to come save you." She laughed, shaking her head before muttering "Some pirate you are."

Kate let out a little laugh and told the woman with a small shrug, "He won't come for me. I don't mean a damn thing to him." She quoted Kidd, remembering the marine base they had demolished to save Killer who hadn't even have the courtesy to be there.

The girl's eyebrows shot up in surprise before she asked "So I take it you're the crew's whore?'

"What makes you think that?" Kate coolly asked despite the immense shock she felt. Here they were, two complete strangers and she was asked if she were a whore?! Kidd's whore none the less The only way she'd be Kidd's whore is if she got paid to take the abuse.

"The countless bruises on your body, they're everywhere. The hardly there week or so old bite mark on your shoulder and the corset dress. Need I list any more reasons that lead me to that conclusion?"

"No. You never answered my question. Who are you?"

"Oh right. I'm Lila. I'm sure you want to know who changed you, well that was me. You see I'm your personal . . . 'maid' if you will, as well as your body guard." She introduced herself then explained to the rather attractive blonde that sat in the bed. No wonder Master Yui had picked her, it was also the reason she thought that she was the Pirate's whore.

"I don't need one." Kate grumbled. She could take care of herself or die trying.

"Sure you don't. I'd like to see you find your way to the ballroom or the banquet hall, or hell the front door."

"Speaking of doors, why don't we start with telling me which one of them opens to the closet." Kate muttered, seeing the point of needing the woman's assistance. Though she wouldn't need it for long.

Lila rolled her eyes muttering "A please every once in a while would be nice." She was bitching because she could, and because once in a while some manners would never hurt anyone.

Kate let out a quiet chuckle. "Sorry. You see my captain doesn't enforce manners near as much as he enforces violence. So would you please direct my attention to the door of the closet?" There were a few other doors, only they were all a little less than half the size of the double doors Lila had burst through looking as though she had been ready to kill, each door was spread fairly far apart along the curved walls of the large room. And to be honest Kate didn't want to open each of them, her guessing skills weren't the best.

The purple haired girl pointed to the only door with an elongated oval mirror with a beautiful silver frame around it, taken aback by the pirate woman's attitude. She watched the girl pull the sheets off the bed and hold it to her chest even as she walked towards that door, after a word of thanks. "You know master Yui is going to like your figure. You ain't too busty like that bimbo Jannie- she only lasted two days. And you ain't too scrawny either, like that goody-goody two shoes Ahna, who not only lasted three hours but almost got me in trouble with Master Yui, hell he could have had me executed on the spot for what she was claiming."

Kate felt her face heat up. The last person who had told her that she had a nice body was Jarodeth, and the thought of him made her blood boil! But onto the idiot named Yui, whoever he was, that idiot was never going to see her figure. Ever. "Th-thanks." She managed, feeling embarrassed that she couldn't even take a complement.

"You know, I like you pirate lady. I hope you can last a while." She said with a smile, as if she expected them to be good friends.

"What happened to the other twenty eight women?" Kate asked, the curiosity in her speaking for itself.

"A few how been beheaded, one died of sickness- grieved Master Yui greatly. Um . . . let's see, some have died in the dungeon- I believe Ahna is still being tortured." Lila flashed a smile that looked quite pleased with what had become of the 'goody-goody two shoes'. "And of course others have been sent home." She shrugged as if it didn't matter. Then asked "So what shall I address you as? Mis. , Miss, Pirate Lady, Pirate, Mistress, Lady whatever your name is, what?" She expectantly asked as if she were expected to choose.

What was wrong with Kate, just Kate with no formalities? "Kate. Just Kate. Please don't add any of those formalities to my name."

"Kate huh? Alright. So which crew do you belong to you? I mean sixty million as a first bounty that's quite impressive. And an epithet of Kidd Princess Kate, it's kindda cute, not very scary." She said.

"I have a bounty and epithet?" Kate asked. Did this huge walk in closet not have any pants and shirts? "Is there only dresses in here?" she finally asked poking her head out of the closet.

"No. But they're hidden. Master Yui prefers women to wear dresses, he loves Kimono's above all." Lila informed the girl of Yui's preference though she doubted that she cared at all, heck she'd probably go to great lengths to make sure she displeased him, did everything he disliked because she wanted to. Oh she was going to be such fun.

"You seem to know this Yui guy quite well." She was aware of Kate's carefully eyeing her.

"Good hope. I've not only known him since I was ten. But his wives have been entrusted in my care. Have been ever since that ditz Clare lost track of his third wife, Taylor who was discovered to be a cross dresser. After we found him two months later."

"Can you please help me find those damn jeans and shirts you were telling me about?" Kate requested with a sigh of defeat. The shirts that had been organized were no longer so. It never crossed Kate's mind that there wouldn't be jeans. That even though jeans were pants, not all pants were jeans, meaning that those pants Lila had been talking about didn't have to be those jeans she was looking forwards to sliding into.

Lila joined her in the closet went straight to the back, parted the longer dresses and went to the middle drawer, opened it and asked "Do you prefer black or stone washed jeans?" She knew that Kate was a jeans kind of girl. It was important for her to be able to tune into her mistress and her likes and dislikes without having to directly ask or have an experience that would tell her whether or not she liked it. "With your complexion, I would suggest a light color." Without hearing Kate's preference, a folded pair of light blue jeans with holes in the knees were held out to her, no shoved into her arms. Kate almost instantly shook them out and quickly slid them on over the matching blue silk boy-short underwear that the bottom of the top piece touched. As she did that Lila began talking again. "T-shirts occupy the top half of this dresser. But if I may, I suggest wearing a long sleeved Kimono top to go with those jeans?"

"Suggest whatever you want since you seem to know this closet better than I." Honestly if Kate was left to pick out her own clothing at the moment she might not even been seen until tomorrow there were that many clothes.

"Just because I make suggestions doesn't mean you have to take them. So would you like to wear a short Kimono top with a colored sash? Another suggestion if you will," She paused, giving the blonde a chance to protest but she only stood there looking rather interested in what she was going to say next.

Well she didn't protest, but she did however speak. "Shoot."

"Don't have a gun sorry. Not only that but I'd die if I caused bodily harm. I'm here to protect you from it."

"What about psychological harm?" She inquired.

"Still no." Lila said with all seriousness. One wife had been into cutting herself and had mutilated her entire body, not just her arms. She had ended up using a dinner knife in the bathtub and by time Lila had gotten to her, she was already gone. Master Yui had been disappointed, but not devastated.

"Well I'm glad I don't have to worry about that anymore, whew." Somehow the girl still managed to smile before saying "Besides, I'm still recovering from a heavy wound."

"I noticed, a machete or something to the side. The blow was not meant to kill you, simply meant to keep you from following someone. Someone obviously inexperienced patched you up before you came in contact with any real medical personnel." It wasn't too hard to get those details from the wound, not with its location, or depth. Either that or the person didn't know how deep the killing blow would have to be to kill her. "Speaking of, who in the name of hell bandaged you?!"

"My captain . . . I believe." Kate had to say, for a stranger who knew nothing about that night, those men and the situation, Lila had been eerily accurate.

"We should have that examined before we introduce you and Master Yui. So I ask, black or white? Both colors would look great with a sash that matches your eyes, so it doesn't matter which one you choose."

Kate shrugged and said "Whichever. My old top was white-"

"Then black it is." She pulled something off a hanger on the way out of the closet. "Let's go. The first step is Dr. Megan. And while he does whatever he will, I'll summon master Yui to the entrance hall. From there you two will begin planning the unveiling party and discussing your ceremony plans-"

"Will you be there?" Kate interrupted closing the closet door behind her. Almost every word after Dr. Megan was a foreign language, that or she wasn't hearing correctly, she couldn't decide which of the two it was.

"Of course. I have to make sure your differing opinions, tastes and unique styles can harmoniously come together to form a beautiful ceremony."

"How many times have you said that?" Kate grumbled. To her it sounded like she had practiced it before barging in after she had screamed.

She shrugged blocking the door. "That my master's beautiful bride is not for you to know. However, I cannot let you out of this room until you do something about that 'I was just drugged' look. Maybe apply some makeup, wash your face, and brush your hair and teeth. Freshen up a bit would you?"

"Is that a suggestion?" Kate teased trying to decide which door lead to the bathroom. Well she could eliminate two of them.

"No Lady Kate it is not. Master Yui would very much appreciate a good first impression. Wouldn't want you to last less than a minute would we?"

"When do you start keeping track?"

"Only after the night of the ceremony is over."

"Why, what's so special about the night of the ceremony?" Kate asked, hoping that she'd be long gone before she found out for herself.

"That's the night that Master Yui will lay you down on your marriage bed and-"

"Whoa, wait up. Marriage bed?" When was marriage even brought up in the conversation!? So far it had been ceremony this, ceremony that. And now there was suddenly a marriage bed?!

"Yes." Her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out Kate's obvious distress. But when she couldn't Lila asked "Why, do you have different beliefs?"

"Uh . . . well-"

"Don't tell me an attractive woman such as yourself are still a virgin."

"I'm not." Kate was quick to inform Lila who followed her to the door that she had discovered lead to the huge bathroom. There was a swimming pool sized bathtub that could fit at least 4 people plus some, a separate shower, and a sink with a large vanity and mirror as well as a stool. Of course there were fluffy looking white towels and what appeared to be hundreds of bottled soaps and fragrances, all ready to be used whenever she desired. The woman with purple hair stopped at the door, leaning against the frame to continue their conversation as she directed Kate to what she would need. "Trust me, I am definitely not a virgin." Kate muttered again.

"Have you committed yourself to anyone?" She paused then decided to slip in some ideas of who she thought she might have a commitment to. "Like say your captain."

"No, that's not the issue." Kate muttered, her voice deciding to come out a whisper as she ripped the brush through awfully tangled hair.

"Then I don't see the problem. You don't have the virgin willies like Sofi or De'von. And Yui is very adaptable. I'm sure he will be able to please you greatly."

"I-can we discuss this later?" Kate requested.

"Sure thing. But the issue isn't disappearing." Lila said with a shrug, dropping the subject easily enough to Kate's relief. She even shifted the subject of the conversation away from marriage beds and the ceremony just as she had requested. "So how did you get that wound? You know it's going to leave a nasty scar."

Kate shrugged. Who cared about scars? "Ever heard of the Massacre Soldier?" she asked.

"Yeah, one of the supernovas, bounty of about two hundred million, subordinate of Eustass Kidd. . . " She trailed off, black eyes widening as something visibly clicked in her mind. Kate noticed that she was quick to regain her composure, even letting out a little laugh. "Impressive Lady Kate. There seems to be a hell of a lot more to you than meets the eye. So what about the Massacre Soldier?"

"He's my brother." Kate bluntly said as she finished up washing her face, deciding to screw the make-up. They talked about her time with Eustass Kidd and what it had been growing up with one of the supernova's and being on Kidd's ship as Lila lead her to the infirmary, black kimono top and blue sash folded over her arm.

"Here we are. Dr. Megan will examine and patch you up if you need it. I'll be back in a few minute." She nodded, ushered Kate inside the room, made sure that she was in good hands and then walked out, leaving her alone with the doctor.

"Look I'm fine." Kate said backing away, wondering why Dr. Megan was male, a ginger male. "My captain might be a- very inexperienced- but he did a good enough job patching me up. I really don't need your help." If that man got any closer Kate wasn't going to keep backing up.

"All I'm going to do is give your side a quick check up, probably just clean it and redress it." He said in a soothing voice that only served to put Kate even more on edge then she already was. There were just so many sharp objects that could be used as weapons, and Kate wasn't taking her fucking chances! "There's no need to worry ma'am. I wouldn't last long enough to escape if I were to Kill or harm you."

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A/N: I know what I said about not posting any more chapters until I had finished editing, but it was boring me and I got some more chapters done today. I just feel like typing something new I guess. So this is a bit early or whatever. Sorry It's a lot of dialog and not much action.

Lila's name is like lilac without the c.

Almost got 50 reviews! That's the most I've ever gotten! Lots of love and a million thanks to you all. (you know who you are) But I appreciate and love you all!

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	17. Warnings

"Look doctor, I'm warning you now. If you touch me, I'm definitely going to have a few muscle spasms." Kate said as she stopped retreating. However he didn't stop his advancements, putting Kate more and more on edge, her heart rate accelerating with each step he took closer.

The idiot doctor laughed as though he thought that she was trying to be funny, as if she weren't serious, Which Kate was, she was beyond dead serious. Dammit, if he got any closer, he was going to be the one to regret it, not her.

He got within arms distance and then put his arm around her shoulders. As he did so he began saying something that was probably along the lines of 'you're safe' or 'I'm Yui's doctor' but Kate wouldn't know for sure because the moment his wiry arm was laid across her shoulders she freaked out.

"I warned you." Kate growled at him, grabbing his thin wrist her fingers circling around it with ease as she used his arm to flip his body over her and released his wrist so that he went flying away from her. He had gotten too close after she had been kind enough to warn him that she wasn't going to react kindly to him being within close proximity of her. His surprisingly light body flew into a cupboard with glass flasks, beakers, test tubes and sharp shiny things she prayed caused him great harm.

Before he could get up or even regain his bearings Kate was gone. As she flew out the door she snatched the shirt and sash off of the rather intimidating operating table. She wasn't sticking around any longer then she had to.

Did she feel any ounce of remorse? Yes. Did she feel it because the doctor was hurt and hopefully on his way to the afterlife? Hell no.

Kate was now standing, doubled over, breathing heavily, that wound in her side aching dully.

Alright, well maybe she wasn't just fine as she had claimed. And now that she had injured the doctor he couldn't help her- not that she'd want him helping her anyway. Oh well. Kate straightened and starting walking the way she had just come from. However Kate had taken a few wild turns and was now very lost.

Just her luck really. It was probably karmas fault that it was bothering her now of all times.

Kate knew that she had taken a right somewhere along the line, but she doubted that it had been at the three way intersection she was now facing. Nope because she didn't remember coming across any staircases, and not 30 feet away were a set of stairs that led down to somewhere or rather. "Hello?" She called hoping to get someone's attention. No wonder that cross-dresser had gotten lost for two months, or had it been two years?

Kate didn't want to be lost in this goddamned castle for months or years. How was she going to eat? Or drink? And where was she going to sleep, the floor? Where everyone could see her and where she was vulnerable to attack. Kate let out a groan and leaned back against a wall before sliding down it until she came to a sitting position. "Stupid castle." She muttered after a few long minutes of silence.

Lila returned to the infirmary to see a shelf toppled over, Dr. Megan under it and a lot of broken and shattered glass surrounding him. He was struggling to lift the shelf off of himself. Lila called one of the passing castle hands in to assist him before asking "Which way did Lady Kate run?" He shakily lifted a hand and pointed, muttering bitterly about how he had been too busy being thrown to take notice of which way the little snot had gone.

"If I were a pirate, where would I run?" Lila asked herself. "The front door of course." She determined turning around and heading towards the entrance, deciding to search the gardens and ask the guards if they had seen a blonde pirate, specifically Kate.

"Lila I am growing quite impatient. Where is the Kidd Princess Kate?" a voice came from the snail on her wrist.

"You see Dr. Megan must have spooked her or something because he lost her. I am currently on my way to begin searching outside for her. If you would like I will issue a search though out the castle." Lila responded almost instantly. She had left him in the entrance hall waiting for Lady Kate, who wasn't where she was supposed to be.

He sighed heavily into the snail's shell, making the sound audible to Lila as she heard the sound of rustling clothing. So it seemed that he had chosen to take a seat somewhere. "No. I shall issue the search myself as I search for my bride."

"And what would you wish for me to do in the meantime Master?" She asked. If a search was to be warranted and he was going to search for Lady Kate it wasn't going to be necessary for her to continue searching.

"Go to the gown room and pick out a few that will suit Kate."

"Yes master."

"How many times have I told you to drop the formalities when it's just the two of us?" He asked a hint of exasperation, annoyance and impatience all in his voice.

"Only every time we speak." She said. If he didn't ask every time than it was every other time.

There was another heavy sigh as Lila turned down a hall. "Correct. Maybe I punish you'd obey me then."

"We both know that's not going to do anything." She easily told him. Compared to the other maids, castle hands, butlers and slaves the Master had accumulated over the years; she was by far the most disrespectful. The only real formality she used was master, other than that she treated him as though she were on the same level as him. But what was to be expected, she had been with him for almost twelve years, far longer than anyone else.

"Right, that's why I haven't bothered. I'll contact you when the Kidd Princess Kate had been found."

"Alright-Oh, hey wait Yui." She paused and then muttered "Hello?" Unsure if he had disconnected yet.

"What is it Lila?" His voice came from her wrist.

"She's very unsure, and uneasy about the marriage bed tradition. If you are the one to find her, try talking to Lady Kate about it."

"Is that what you're calling her now?"

"Yes. Good day. That is all I wanted to add." With that their conversation was over. Now the task of picking out a few dresses that would not only fit Kate's size but also her style and Yui's preferences. Lila clapped once and headed towards the vast room filled with nothing but dresses. Half of the dresses were white ceremony dresses. She opened the average sized door and stepped into the room. Every kind of dress imaginable, with every style length and color under the sky rested on a hanger somewhere in the room.

Kate heard muffled footsteps coming softly down the hall, but she ignored them. She only shifted the crook of her elbow enough so that she could peek at the person. The person she was peeking at had blonde hair, unusual brown colored eyes that reminded her of caramel candy He stopped not far from her feet. When he didn't speak, she moved her elbow back to where it had been, blocking out the light, and releasing a heavy sigh of boredom with the words 'stupid castle' attached to it.

"Do you find my castle displeasing to you?"

"Yeah." She said after deciding that she even wanted to answer him. She was trying to ignore him. But he had a presence like Kidd's; it was as hard as fuck to ignore him.

"What do you find so displeasing Lady Kate?" He earnestly asked her. He tried to make each bride as happy as he could. Some were of course easier than others, but most of the time they wound up happy.

"The lack of maps on the wall." Kate grumbled, wondering why the almost casually dressed boy was still standing at her feet bothering her.

He let out a small chuckle and said "Yes, my second bride thought so too. You know you look just like the image on your bounty poster." And she did, minus the smile and the battle field in the foreground. Her blonde hair was a wild mess, her skin had a little color to it and she was probably about his height, maybe he was a bit taller than her.

"That's the point of one isn't it?" she asked, her mind was like a dehydrated person in a desert, as slow as hell. She wasn't putting his words and what he was saying together with her situation and what Lila had told her. Now that Kate thought about it, she should have broken one of the stain-glass windows that she had passes while frantically running around like a chicken with its head cut off, and escaped while she had a chance. Too bad that idea was just now occurring to her.

"Yes. May I ask you why you're lying on the ground in the middle of the hall?"

"I'm lost and I'm tired." Kate's stomach protested hunger having not been on the list of things that she currently was. ", and obviously hungry. You know the last thing I consumed was a drugged martini, or maybe it was something fruity, I can't remember."

"And that's the reason you're lounging on the ground like so?" He asked. She hadn't really answered his question. He didn't understand why those things would make her feel the need to lay down in the middle of the hall.

"Of course. Those are three great answers, but if you want two more I've got them. You see I gave up an immeasurable amount of time ago. That and I'm very afraid that this Master Yui guy will be mad at me-"

"Why is that?" Kate failed to notice his very nice sounding voice harden.

"Because the damned doctor touched me-"

"How so?" He interrupted, his voice now teetering on the verge of dangerous.

"My idiot of a captain patched me up and he's not the best patcher-upper, so Lila told me that the doctor was going to have a look at it. And I warned him very nicely that he was more than likely to get hurt if he touched me. But noooooo, he just had to put his arm around me. And I warned him I really did, then I sortta freaked out. After that I ran 'cuz ya know he was- I don't know, I just did. And then I got lost and right now I'm just waiting to be found by god only knows who. Hey," Kate said, removing her elbow from across her eyes and folding her hands over her stomach. "Speaking of who, who are you? Since you already seem to know me- and am I the only one who doesn't know about my bounty?!"

"Considering that you belong to such a well-known pirate crew with two of the eleven supernovas' on it, I'm surprised that you didn't know about your own bounty. Did you just find out?"

"Within the duration of our conversation? No. Within the duration of today?" Kate let out a small laugh. "Oooh today is just been a crazy and psychotic, and I haven't even meet the guy who's forcing me to be his wife. Can you believe it? I was drugged, kidnapped and now forced to marry some strange guy?" There was a beat of silence before Kate continued talking. "So off of my crazy woman ramblings that I'm sure you don't want to hear about and back to my question. Who are you?"

"Yui." He told her, watching the girl's body shake with silent laughter.

"That's really funny. There's this guy that Lila calls Master yu-" She bolted upright before jumping to her feet stammering, "You-He- Master- Aw shit." With that she threw her arms up in the air.

"Running is futile." He said with a 'you're kind of stuck' yet somewhat apologetic smile playing across his face.

"I gave up on that long before I could think of it. I mean I think if it like this. I'm lost as it stands, right now, you most likely know exactly where we are. So I can only get more and more lost as you follow me at a leisurely pace. Not only that but you have guards- oh hey were is Lila?"

"In the gown hall." What the pirate woman had said had been surprisingly sensible for a woman of her status.

Her aqua marine eyes met his brown ones, she looked over her shoulder almost casually, looked him once more before turning and running. "You amuse me greatly." He said with a chuckle to the empty space before him. "Care to take a leisurely walk with me?" He held his elbow out as he would if he were offering the pirate herself before turning down the hall she had just turned into just in time to see her disappear up the spiral staircase of a tower. Nothing or real importance was up there and there was but one ex-there was the sound of shattering glass, make that two. He thought.

Yui lifted the shell of the snail of his wrist up to his mouth and gave an order in case the daring girl fell. God forbid she'd die before the unveiling party. Though by the looks of it she was one of the less enthusiastic ones, or maybe dresses scared the woman . . .Surely not. She was after all brought to him in a red and black corset top dress. Maybe she didn't like the thought of lace and frills like his eighth bride Ezera. Again that was not possible because her corset had lace and a frilly skirt.

Lady Kate was going to be a fun woman to figure out and crack. He thought to himself with a smile as he began to ascend the tight spiral staircase.

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A/N: I'm slowly fixing each chapter. So I think I'm going to edit one or two and then post one. After the break ends (Jan. 7th or so) I won't be posting for a while (gotta get my grade up) But do not fear when I have fixed my grade (as long as it's above a c+) I will be typing and posting once more.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.

All three greatly appreciated.


	18. I Come Alive

Gown hall?! A hall full of gowns?! It sounded like hell! Was Kate really going to be able to last until Kidd and Killer got their asses here and crashed the party? Honestly, was she going to be able to hold out until she could quietly slip away like an old memory with the Kidd Pirates?

She pressed her back to the cool rough surface of the castles outer wall. Suppressing a shudder Kate scooted, inch by painful inch along the ledge that her toes curled over.

"Lady Kate, you seem to have covered a lot of ground." A voice was heard as a blonde head popped out the window she had shattered with some dusty old chair.

"Screw it." She hisses turning so that her back was to him and her feet were heel to toe along the ledge. He was too close to her for comfort. If she could see or hear him, he was too close. And at the moment she could do both.

Yui had to honestly say that he had yet to have a bride that had run away from him, let alone done so on a six inch ledge. But yet there the Kidd Princess Kate was, sprinting away from him. "Are you afraid of me Lady-"

"No!" She shrieked over her shoulder, tossing a look at him only to dangerously sway to the side, her arms blurring in a wild pinwheel motion, snapping her attention away from her and back to the balance she needed to regain. Once it was momentarily regained she looked back at him again before saying "The cat I had as a toddler was scarier then you." It had been all claws and fangs. She shuddered. Killer had ended up gutting it when she came home looking as though she had ran through a thorn bush. With that pleasant memory she took off once more, agilely leaping across a windowsill that concaved instead of jutting out, and went around a sharp corner that jutted out of the outer wall and ran out of sight.

"Shall we?" Yui asked with another little laugh before climbing onto the dusty windowsill, careful to avoid the jagged glass clinging to the frame and took a step out to effortlessly continue his walk.

Kate smiled, Ha! She had lost him. She looked around, this was a nice castle, perfect for a raid. It was standing in the middle of the island, tall and proud with many tall towers practically screaming 'I'm here, I dare you to try any piratey stuff!' Or that's what Kate though anyway. She looked down to see ant sized people scrambling around, looking, pointing and shouting up at her. Being who she was, Kate began wildly waving at them like an idiot, like she had done to the Kidd Pirates from their crows-nest. "Wanna see something cool?" She called down to them, pausing in her running. "Huh? I can't hear you- yes? Ok of you insist." Kate smiled before jumping off the ledge.

"You'd choose suicide over me and what I have to offer you?" that silky smooth voice asked as her summersault came to an abrupt stop.

"I think you dislocated my shoulder." She grumbled as she looked up. He was pretty strong, holding her by only her wrist. But something was very wrong with this picture. Oh yeah, they were in the middle of the air. She was just dangling there in the air by her wrist, very high off the ground she might add.

"Not very creative, jumping off of ledges." He said in what sounded like a disappointed voice, as if he'd expect more from her with her being a pirate and all. If anyone was going to go out with a bang, it was going to be her stupid captain Mr. Eustass Kidd.

"Suicide is being on Kidd's crew. Jumping off of tantalizingly high places is my hobby." She corrected him, wondering why they bounty people hadn't called her acrobatic Kate or something similar. But for some reason it didn't seem to have the ring to that that Kidd Princess Kate had to it. When she was Kidd next she was going to rub her epithet in his face with a bit fat smile.

"You could kill yourself Like Vera managed to do." He said this as if he thought she might care about whoever Vera was.

"I was going to land on either my feet or one of those little people down there." Kate only wanted to leave this life one way, and it was confidential, not even Killer knew about this.

"How do you know?" he challenged looking down. He doubted that she'd be able to land on her feet, much less one of the castle guards.

"Because I am quite skilled at my hobby of choice." She told him without the slightest hesitation.

"Which is?" He questioned even though they had already gone over this.

"One of them is going to catch me right?" Kate completely ignored his question as she looked down at the people in some kind of uniform.

"No guarantee. But I'm not letting you go so you have no reason to fear." Yui told her, looking down at her pretty face. She didn't look the least bit worried dangling there when he could easily let go. Her life was being held in her hands, but then again maybe this didn't scare her with her being a pirate.

Kate shrugged the shoulder that wasn't most likely disconnected, dig her nails into his wrist until he let go and smiled up at him as the thing called gravity kicked in.

From inside Lila saw Lady Kate's body falling from the sky and shook her head before returning to the task at hand. Falling was futile, a waste of time if she were trying to escape Master Yui.

Kate landed, not on her feet or on a guard as she had planned but in somebodies warm, soft arms. "I-You-How-When-Devil fruit!" Kate pointed an accusing index finger at the boy, leaning as far away as she could without falling out of his arms, and poking him on the tip of his nose.

"You catch on quickly." He dryly said. She caught on so much faster than his other twenty-eight brides. Yet slower at the same time because none of them had the chance to see it first hand after having tried jumping from a six inch ledge and then called it her hobby.

"So what devil fruit did you eat?" Kate suspiciously asked as he childishly nipped at her finger.

"That, my pirate bride, is for me to know and you to find out." With that his legs began moving and he began walking around to the front entrance, shamelessly carrying her bridal style. When she protested his grip tightened. When she kicked her legs didn't reach his face or groin. When she punched, hit or slapped, they seemed to have no effect on him. So finally she gave up, becoming limp in his arms trying to make it difficult for Yui to carry her.

Unfortunately that plan didn't work and she became bored. "So what exactly are we going to do?"

He looked down at her for the first time since having started walking with a grin on his face. "You'll run if I tell you." It looked like he delighted in the knowledge that not telling her would nearly kill her.

"Can't run," Kate dramatically gasped the words out. ", right now."

"That's the point." The playful grin was still there but it dropped and he was serious once again.

At that Kate fell silent, only letting out a short groan of boredom. Kidd was funner then Yui. Speaking of devils Killer would probably give her a displeased look of her usage of the word funner. He had proven many times that the word funner was not in the dictionary, and then he'd proceed to correct her by saying more fun like the annoying brother he was. But Kidd, Kidd on the other hand, he was oh so much more fun than this Yui guy. He always- well almost always- had something to throw back in her face, whether it be a fist or an insult, or a cures or a kiss. But whatever it was, he reacted. This guy didn't, not in the ways Kidd did on a daily basis. He had yet to make her fear for her life- something Kidd had done the second day- or regret having asked a great question (only to find that it wasn't a smart one to ask)- again something Kidd had done multiple times. Yui had yet to make her want to fist her hands in his sun ray colored locks. Yui didn't heighten her senses every second she was around him. He didn't make her come alive.

Kidd did. She realized. Kidd made her come alive.

Kate let out a small laugh, and it only took this deadbeat carrying her for Kate to realize this.

What was next? Love confessions? She mentally sneered at herself in a fashion not too far of a cry from what Kidd might have done had he been able to hear he thoughts. Kate smiled for a second only to realize exactly what she had mentally sneered at herself.

Love confessions?! What the hell was she thinking?! Didn't love confessions come from a person who loves another person?! The very idea of her loving the man named Eustass Kidd was just down right ridiculous! The most ridiculous idea that had ever crossed Kate's mind. She burst out laughing, as though her mind and body didn't know what else to do with the realization, with the crazy ideas circling her head.

She did so until her aquamarine eyes met Yui's and he asked "What's so funny?" As if he cared.

"Noneya." Kate childishly rushed, trying to somewhat somber up. No anger or irritation, or emotion really flashed in his eyes as she refused to tell him what she was laughing at. To be honest, Kate didn't even know why she was laughing herself. But what did she expect from him? He was Yui, the boy she hadn't even known for a whole day. He wasn't Kidd, the super sensitive and aggressive captain of hers.

"Mature Lady Kate, very mature. Perhaps we should schedule time for you to interact with children." And his sources had told him that this woman, the one he held in his arms, was not only an unbelievable three years his senior; but she also belonged to the crew of Eustass Captain Kidd. It seemed less and less likely the more time he spent with her. Maybe his sources had been wrong . . .

"My captain's a kid." Kate said trying to hold in laughter, but ultimately failed. She knew that if Kidd had heard that she'd be well on her way to blacking out. "And I loove interacting with him." She sang deciding to ignore the pervy factor in that sentence.

"It's a shame that you're mine now." For Lady Kate being a pirate was history. That chapter of her life had ended and a new one had started the moment she had awoken this morning.

"You act like you're taking me away from him, meaning that I had to have been his to begin with." What was she? Some kind of trophy that they were all trying to win? Well she knew for a fact that Kidd would not participate in that competition.

"Your epithet, Kidd Princess Kate implies that you were." He told her.

"You know I can walk by myself." Kate grumbled trying to change the subject. The only person who had a rightful claim to her at all times was Killer. And then if it was anyone else it was Kidd because he was her captain and Yui was last, he had absolutely no rights to her.

"Why walk when you can have somebody carry you?"

"Because I have two perfectly useable legs and I wanna use them."

"I've been informed Lady Kate that you aren't too keen about the marriage bed tradition-"

"Tradition my ass. Is kidnapping women and forcing them to be your bride a tradition to- wait, no, don't answer that." Kate just wanted to go back to the ship, sail off and get yelled at until she was deaf, or get punched until she couldn't see straight and then proceed to magically wake up in Killers bed only to get up and do it all over again. "But if you want to know the problem, it's you. I don't want to sleep with you-"

"You'd much rather your captain correct?" He cut into Kate as he had done to him.

"Exactly!" She exclaimed throwing her hands up. "Wait what?!" Kate screeched, realizing what she had agreed with. What the hell had she just said?! "No fair! We were in a heated conversation. You can't just throw things like that out at random."

"I did and it wasn't random Lady Kate."

Kate groaned, why couldn't someone call her just Kate, or hell, bitch or whore would work too. Anything but Lady Kate. Jeez the Kidd Pirates needed to hurry their sorry asses up! "Was too." That was the end of that conversation.

"Master Yui?" A voice asked, spooking Kate. At first she thought that that was Heat, with the whole master thing, but she realized that it was Lila, even though there wasn't a soul in sight.

"Transponder snail." He whispered with a smile, finding her being spooked amusing. "Yes Lila?" He responded. Kate didn't fail to notice the way his tone changed when he began speaking to her.

"Have you found Lady Kate yet?"

"Yes, I was positive that she fell in front of the gown hall's window."

"My back must have been turned. I'm sorry I missed it. Is Lady Kate alright?"

"I have to make sure that my careless act of grabbing her around the wrist did not dislocate any limbs. But other than that she should be fine."

Kate could almost see the young woman nod before saying "That's good. We wouldn't want her dying before the ceremony. I'm quite relieved that you remain unharmed Lady Kate." Again she was startled, this time by the conversation having been directed at her instead of Yui.

"Is that all?" He asked before Kate could respond- it was quite rude of he were to ask her. But then again she had shown him the same courtesy more than a few times already.

"Actually no. Before I leave I was wondering if you wanted to be unveiled in her ceremony dress of in something . . . different."

The man still stubbornly thought for a few seconds, before drawling "Surprise me Lila."

"Are you sure?" She didn't sound too certain being left to make such a big decision.

"I trust you and your decisions." He said with a smile that Lila obviously couldn't see, but Kate could. It was the nicest smile she had yet to see grace his mouth in her presence.

"I'm honored. What are you two doing after the checkup? The party is tomorrow and I'll leave the dresses in Lady Kate's room so that she can choose which one she prefers and be a surprise to you."

"Meet us in the infirmary and we'll plan from there."

"Alright then, see you in a few." With that Lila was gone.

"What?" Yui asked seeing Kate's expression. He could see her thoughts behind her blue eyes.

"Wow." She laughed. No wonder the boy had yet to keep any of his twenty eight brides. The woman he obviously wanted was right in front of him. No matter how much he asked, or tried to get the information out of her, Kate refused to tell him anymore. She had to admit that she was having fun with holding such insignificant information out of his reach. Taunting and teasing him almost mercilessly. Damn. Kate thought. Now she knew how Kidd felt when he did it to her.

For the second time that day Kate entered the infirmary. Yui and Lila stepped out once they were satisfied that Kate wasn't going to attack the doctor who fortunately for them all wasn't Dr. Megan. Her shoulder was popped back into place. That procedure included a lot of pain and some screaming as well as a few people to hold her down. While they were at it, and had her held securely down by a total of three people, they re-stitched her side and then was pushed out of the infirmary and into the hall, interrupting Yui's and Lila's conversation.

"I'll get lost." Kate muttered unsure if she meant figurative or literal.

But her wrist was caught and the words "I cannot permit that. I told you this morning that not only am I your personal maid, but I am also your body guard. It's quite shameful that I managed to lose you in the first place." Were spoken almost sternly. "We must take out leave Master Yui." With that she was dragged away. Once they rounded a corner and were most definitely out of Yui's earshot Lila said "Nice stunt you pulled today. And I don't mean the disappearing act either."

"The falling from the sky? I thought so too."

"Planned on gong 'splat' did you?"

"Not at all. Didn't have suicide on the mind at all." Kate proudly told the girl.

"Sure you didn't." She scoffed opening the large door before Kate could even reach for it herself. "So there's a few dresses for the unveiling tomorrow evening. Pick one, try it on and we'll have it modified of if you can sketch we can bring it to life. Yui's tenth bride Dakota could draw beautifully, loved designing her own clothing." She offered the information about her master's old bride. Wonder what happened to her. Kate wondered then began what would wind up happening to her, how she'd be remembered in this castle.

"Backless." Kate muttered. She wanted something stunning, something that would knock Yui's, Killers and of course Kidd's socks, shoes and boots clean off their feet! Lila guided her attention to a few dresses but none of the expensive dresses shouted in small high pitched voices 'pick me, pick me' "Can I have one made?" Of course Kate wasn't the best artist out there but she was far worse than the best. But she had more artistic ability then Killer and that was good enough for her. Not only that but she didn't even have the slightest clue as to what she wanted this dress to look like. But by tomorrow she was going to knock them all dead.

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A/N:

Has anyone ever heard the song I come alive by the Used?

It goes like this- I come alive when I'm falling down. (lyrics I forgot go here) I come alive when I'm falling down.

Well if you haven't I suggest that you do. It's a catchy, and good song. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	19. What I desire

Kidd knew that the crew beside him was ready. The log pose was set and the ship was ready to set sail the moment they stepped foot on the deck and raised the anchor. The occasion was being broadcasted throughout the small connecting islands. They civilly walked into the larger then necessary castle.

A man with blonde hair a shade of blonde somewhere between Kate's white blonde and Killer's darker blonde, brown eyes and expensive clothing stood on a balcony smiling down at the people craning their necks just to see him. His eyes flicked over to the entering group but didn't stop smiling or falter in his speech. "And now I present to you my beautiful bride Lady Kate." He concluded the damn speech before turning and holding out a hand. Kidd snorted at the words Lady Kate. That bitch couldn't be a lady even if she tried.

A bouncing thing . . . well bounced into view with a 'do I have to be here?' expression on her face hidden behind a thin smile that didn't fool him. Her eyes scanned the faces looking up at her, appearing to be rather bored until something caught her attention. She visibly lit up, the thin fake smile falling away to reveal a genuinely happy one as she began thrashing wildly- or was the bitch waving at someone? Kidd couldn't tell, and he didn't intent on wasting his time trying to figure it out as he watched her. They didn't have to put their plan into action immediately. Not only that but Kate wasn't easily accessible as of now.

The boy leaned over, whispered something into Kate ear and not only was the smile instantly gone but she stopped thrashing as well, her arms falling limply to the side. Again her eyes skimmed the mass of faces below her. And this time her aquamarine eyes locked with his as her lips began to move and form the unsure words "Um . . . Hello?" He couldn't believe that she was just standing up there so tamely.

Why hadn't anyone told her that she was to make a speech?! It was not only awkward but in front of a smirking Kidd. Finally Kate was put out of her misery. She watched as people began to mix and mingle below them. Leaning over she whispered "Can't we go down there?" She hated being so high and mighty, looking down at people from the little balcony that her and Yui were sharing. After a pause Kate added "You don't have much of an option. Say yes and I'll quietly take the stairs-"

"And if I say no?" He presses, obviously not taking into account who she was, or the fact that she had jumped from a ledge on the castle of not only free will but had called it a hobby.

Kate just smiled sweetly at him and asked "It that your answer? Because if it is you'll find out in about two point two seconds." She grabbed a fistful of her long white and brightly colored dress, hiked it up and put a small hand on his shoulder. She was going to need the leverage.

"I was simply inquiring."

"I'm getting down one way or another. I can take the stairs with a simply yes of course from you. Or I'll surprise you."

Smugly he said "I like surprises when it comes to you. Keeps me on my toes."

"I like keeping people on their toes." She liked it even more when the favor was returned. "You know, I never liked the stairs option anyway." Then as an afterthought she shook a finger at him saying "Just for the record, you asked for this."

As Kidd watched 'Lady' Kate climb onto the waist high railing of the balcony he noticed that Killer was no longer by his side, but paid no mind as her voice rang out, arms stretched out before her. "Look out below!" The crowd took a collective step back, creating a large empty space for whatever she was about to do.

Kidd had to admit that her dress was not only bold but screamed Kate. The main color was white with lots of bright colors, bright orange, electric blue, hot pink, lime green, red and other unidentifiable to Kidd colors. On her feet were silver heels and he had a good idea as to what she was about to do. Two triangles of fabric were missing from the sides of her dress. One side was smooth and unblemished but the other side had stitching, ugly black lines in her flesh, yet she was almost proudly displaying them. Her familiar blue eyes gazed down at him, making eye contact again, that familiar light smile playing on her lips before she jumped. The crowd gasped but Kidd was unfazed. Hell it would be quite funny if her heels slipped on the floor or if she managed to land on anything but her feet.

Upon landing on her feet Kate flashed two thumbs up at the balcony looking pleased with herself. That was until Killer blurred behind her and before anyone could realize what he was doing or going to do pulled her against him and held one of his blades against her neck.

He counted the seconds in which she managed to look startled, and only made it to five too damn fast seconds. It was a good thing she wasn't the one he was trying to fucking scare, otherwise her reaction would have been a big letdown.

"Sorry to steal your spotlight sweetheart." Kidd's sneering voice reached Kate's ears. Sweetheart? Had he really just used a term of endearment sarcastically? Wow! She had to admit that her mind was blown.

"Oh go ahead." She smiled, pressing herself against her brother body, shying away from the blades less than millimeters from her neck.

Kidd smiled widely, he was going to enjoy every last second he was going to spend in this damn castle, wreaking havoc with is crew.

"Do those things have to be so close?" Kate asked lifting her chin, trying to put some distance between that blasted thing and her neck. She knew firsthand how sharp they were but she also knew that Killer would never do anything to hurt her.

"We're aiming for convincing." Killer hissed into her ear. Had it been anyone other than her brother she would have shivered and tried to ignore how close his mouth was to her ear.

"Oh, so should i-"

"No." Kate frowned. He hadn't even let her offer her ideas before shutting them down. And she had thought that they weren't half bad.

"So you guys are going to Kidnap me for ransom and not give me back, right?" She was ignoring the commotion Kidd was causing around them. Women screamed, men died trying to be manly and Kate honestly couldn't care less. They weren't her people, her subjects, friend's family or crew. They were just rich somebodies who had chosen the wrong unveiling party to attend. Not her problem.

"No."

"What?!" Kate shouted. Her surprise and indignant tone was heard by no one other than Killer. After all the other guests of the party were currently occupied with other things.

"No altercations of plans were made. Kidnap and ransom was never in the plan. Sorry."

"Then just kill me now." She whispered, feeling as though she were about to cry. When Kate felt the strange tears pricking at the back of her eyes, she wanted to scream. She wasn't weak and would escape herself. Its jus the chaos the Kidd Pirates would create had been her escape plan."

"Don't think so." Leave it to a brother to do the exact opposite of what you asked.

"This sucks oniichan." Kate whimpered, leaning her head back against his shoulder, looking up at him. "Where is Jay-jay?" surely he knew. Surely he had been trying to play innocent. She knew that she would if she had drugged and sold him to someone. She'd be coming around asking about where they were and making up lies, oh lots and lots of lies.

"I took care of him." Was this really the time to be asking about him, or even carrying on a conversation? Killer wondered to himself. They were trying to make it seem as if the emperors newest bride was in danger of being decapitated if Kidd's non-verbal demands were not met, if they made any moves against the Kidd Pirates.

"No fair. First you guys refuse to kidnap me and now you've taken away my fun. At least tell me you played with him, drew it out and made it as painful as you possibly could."

Killer nodded from behind her and said "I did."

"Then I can forgive you." She exhaled. "But I'd really appreciate it if you could get that thing away from my neck. You're scaring me." Maybe that would work. Kate hoped it would. Those blades were still too close to her neck for comfort.

"Them maybe you'd be a more convincing captive." He whispered to her. There was no way if they were paying attention, that they'd believe that they were complete strangers and that he meant to cause harm to the small girl in his arms.

Kate laughed. "We could start waltzing right now and on one would notice. Kidd's just doing exactly what he said he'd do."

"Which was?" had he missed the exchange between them while waiting for the perfect moment to seize Yui's newest bride? Killer was also curious as to what Kate meant.

"He said he was going to steal my spotlight. And like everything else Kidd does he's going overboard." There was a pause in their conversation as they watched Kidd repel a single person back into the crowd, taking some people off of their feet as they flew back, with a smile of pure joy on his face.

Killer was watching for a different reason then Kate. He was waiting for orders, the signal or command that they were done here. Kate, well she just loved that sight of Kidd, so strong and sarcastic, having the time of his life. It made her want to join him, to break free of Killers hold on her, hack a few of those noble somebodies down and return to the ship.

But things didn't happen like that- not that Kate expected them to. But from behind her Killer shifted bringing the edge of the blade dangerously close to her neck, so close that she could feel the cold sharp edge skim the skin of her neck. Any closer and it would begin slicking the first few layers of skin. But his cool voice broke her thoughts as he said "Hold out your hand."

"I thought we were going for convincing." She hissed at him. If she held out her hands as if waiting to receive something, where was the convincing factor in that?

"Just do it." With those cold, rather blistery words Kate obeyed, wondering why he wasn't half way out the door like the rest of the Kidd Pirates. Kidd himself was already out the door and needlessly destroying anything in his path as he walked- no strutted- away from the castle. Leaving her behind. Would it kill him to tell somebody, any one of the Kidd Pirates to just pick her up and 'kidnap' her back to the ship? Something was presses to her outturned hand. Something was pressed into her nervously waiting for whatever hand. It was warm and- but before Kate could ask what the meaning of this way, Killer whispered "Don't worry baby sis we'll be back." He even used the nickname he had dropped when he was fifteen and she was eleven, leaving Kate in shock as he released her and took off after their crewmates. For the second time in her life Killer left her with a necklace and a promise.

Kate's fingers closed around the heart pendent and she lifted the long skirt of the dress so that she wouldn't trip over the fabric as she ran after the men, her brother, her- dare she actually call him- captain, and her crew. They had cleared the way for her, making a semi clear shot to the door. Being semi clear meant that Kate had the privilege of stumbling over limbs, slipping in pools or trickles of blood as she ran. Ever tried slipping in pools of blood and tripping over limbs in two inch heels? No? Well it wasn't easy. She was so close to just ripping the damn things off before continuing on her way.

Kate was focused so hard on making it to the door, making it to the ship and catching up with the retreating backs of her crew, that when her upper arm was grabbed she whorled around and pounded on whoever's chest, clawing desperately at them, trying to make the person let go. But they held her arm tighter until Kate calmed down enough to see that it was Yui. He caught her fist with ease and smiled almost apologetically at her as his other arm slid around her waist. "You didn't think I'd let you go did you?" All Kate could was breathe heavily, her chest rising and falling in big heaves as she glared daggers at Yui. "I have to admit, I'm surprised that they made it into the castle, let alone made it out without any causalities or injuries. What makes you want to go back to them so badly? Here you can have everything your heart, body or mind could possibly desire."

"Anything?" Kate distractedly mused. "Anything my heart or mind desires?"

"Yes, anything." He whispered to her, in her ear quietly.

"I want to be let go, for you to allow me to go home." Her family was getting farther and farther away from her and once they raised the anchor and adjusted the sails there were going to be on their way and she would have no more chances to catch up with them. Her chances were getting farther and farther away the more they stood here and spoke to each other.

"Why Lady Kate, this is your home." He sounded as though her words had offended him. As he said this his brow furrowed as though he couldn't understand why she would dare call that doomsday looking ship- the one that had started to move- home.

"Whatever." As the ship moved farther and farther away it was killing her more and more.

"What is it that your heart desires?" He asked her almost seductively, gently grabbing and holding her chin, tilting her face up just a few inches. "I can plainly see it in your eyes; hear it in your voice. What is it you want?"

Gulping almost audibly Kate cast one last look out the still open castle doors then looked back at Yui before asking "Do you want to know what my heart desires?"

"Tell me Lady Kate and it will be yours." The large around them was dead silent; it was as if the remaining noblemen and women were mute. The room was still except for the cool invading night breeze that lifted skirts and rustled clothing. No one moved, no one spoke and no one dared to blink that was except for Kate and Yui.

"Never say the word anything to a pirate." Kate quietly warned with a smirk. If he wanted to withdraw his offer now would the not only the best but only time to do so. It was only because she trusted her brother that she decided that she'd stay here and wait. Meaning no further plans of escape were to be made, hatched or schemed by Kate. "I think you might regret telling me that I could have anything my body, mind and heart could all possibly want."

They were going in so many circles, but if the emperor before her was scared, if her cautionary words made him nervous, he showed absolutely no sign of it as he said "I'm willing to take the risks. I would have promised you something I couldn't provide."

She scoffed at that but continued "It's going to take many men."

"For you my men are but mere replaceable pawns." He answered coolly as if he couldn't care less about the sure to be unfortunate fate of his men.

"You can't fool me with a fake. It can't be made and I don't want a duplicate either. I want the real thing. And because of that it will claim the lives of many of your men." There was a pause before Kate slowly reached up, softly brushed his blonde hair away from his ear with none hand before she let her lips graze the skin of his ear and quietly whispered "I want. . ."

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A/N: ha-ha I feel kindda mean to all of you readers.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	20. It's peaceful but boring without you

Three and a half days later Kate was happily skipping down some random hall of the castle. She was as lost as she had ever been but it didn't matter- at least not right then and there it didn't. Not when she was so wrapped up in her happiness and bliss.

"It was kind of pathetic what had taken Kate one night of sleepwalking to get had taken three and a half days and more than fifty men to retrieve."

The three days without Kate had been peaceful. The first night they had celebrated with Kidd with drinks and the exchanging of strange things that had gone on when the blonde had been on the ship. No one paid much mind to the fact that they were being attacked by groups of one or two obviously inexperienced men throughout various times of the day and even night. They were taken care of and of course tossed overboard. No one was woken up by screaming and giggling or any painful sounding thuds thumps or screams. No curses were almost randomly shouted during the day, in fact things returned to normal, the way it had been without the blonde. No one was as happy as Eustass Kidd was to finally be rid of Kate. It wasn't every night that Eustass Kidd fell asleep with a huge smile on his face but that first night was one of the nights that the rare phenomenon was able to be seen.

However despite this change Killer was still woken to the sound of Kidd's voice shouting at him. "Where the fuck is she?"

The words echoed around his mind for a few seconds before he groggily asked "Where is who?" as he sat up. He noticed that Kidd had shouted the word she, and the only she on board had been Kate, who was still on the island that was disappearing on the horizon behind them.

"The damn bitch you call your sister!"

"We left her on the last island." He calmly addressed his hysterical captain.

"No one else would steal my jacket in the middle of the night." His jacket hadn't been touched much less stolen until the little bitch had appeared on his ship. And if she hadn't stolen it, who the fuck had? When Kidd found the sorry bastard who had he was going to skin them alive.

"I assure you, Kate is not on the ship." If she were on it they'd know by now. She'd have ventured to the kitchen or have hid in his room by now. Plus she had been wearing heels and a long dress, there was no way she would have been able to catch up with them and manage to board the ship.

Kidd turned away and stormed out. He wasn't convinced at all. There was no way in hell that she wasn't on his fucking ship somewhere hiding, wrapped happily in his jacket while cowering in some dark dusty corner in fear. The thought of her looking up at him with fear filled eyes when he found her made him smile. Anyway if it wasn't Kate behind his missing jacket who the hell was? None of his crew would dare touch it so what other exclamation was there?

He spent the rest of the day fruitlessly searching for the girl Killer kept insisting wasn't on his ship. So finally at the end of the day, after having found not a single trace of Kate, Kidd was forced to accept that the little bitch hadn't taken his jacket.

By dinner the fourth day Kidd was in a particularly foul mood. Why couldn't the crew just drop it? Kate was gone; they weren't going to get her back and he had no intentions of making a big show about rescuing the damn girl from the rich bastards clutches. Dammit she would be happier there anyway. Happier and a hell of a lot safer. He would no longer threaten her life, something Killer ought to be happy about.

When Kate's hushed name reached his ears for the millionth time in the last twenty minutes of having seated himself in the galley to eat Kidd slammed his hands down on the table, pushing himself to his feet. All eyes were on him now as he scanned the familiar faces of his crew. Some looked as they knew what he was about to say, others looked clueless or surprised at his outburst, and he hadn't even said a damn thing.

"Is something the matter?" Killer spoke as though he couldn't detect his mood, or feel the aura that radiated off of him.

"IF I hear that fucking bitches name one more time-" Kidd angrily left it at that. He didn't even know what he would do to whoever. And besides their imaginations could concoct some morbidly disturbing to the average person, things. He stormed out of the galley; the day had been quite bland, boring really. When he had screwed up their course there had been no taunting or teasing about how he wasn't suited to be captain or some other bullshit wasn't rubbed in his face. She didn't pop up and ask any of her damn questions. And the whispering voices of the crew had been bothering him since he went to get coffee that morning.

"What's wrong? Are you ill Lady Kate?" She let out a low groan to at least show that she had at least heard Lila. "You were so happy yesterday, we fixed your necklace and you received your captain's jacket, what happened?" She was acting the exact opposite of smiling, bouncing, skipping thing Kate had been yesterday. She had even hugged Yui when he had presented the jacket of Eustass Kidd to her. But now she had a depressed aura radiating off of her, she wouldn't move or do much besides flop around on her bed and moan and groan- this behavior was very concerning to Lila, who was in charge of Lady Kate's health and wellbeing.

"Is there something wrong with Yui?" Kate suddenly muttered, rolling over to face her. Lady Kate's brow was furrowed and her blue eyes thoughtful as if she was trying to figure something out.

"I assure you there is nothing wrong with Master Yui. Why would you suggest such a thing?" He was perfectly healthy, in body and mentality.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've magically discovered a new bruise?" When Kate saw Lila's confusion, the confused expression she let out a heavy sigh and continued reluctantly. "More than a week. Yui is no fun; I mean he doesn't do anything."

"Master Yui does-" Lila left to his defense immediately.

"I-he doesn't react to anything I do say or ask. I think there's something wrong with him. I mean he just scolds me- if that- or he answers the question." Lila watched a frown appear on her face, quite an unusual thing for the girl lying on the large neatly made bed.

"What do you want him to do?" Lila cautiously asked. She was almost afraid of her mistress' response to the question.

The girl licked her lips with a small smile before saying "I want him to over react. I want him to turn beet red in the face before he hits me without warning even though I should've read the signs. I want to be scared for my life. I want to wake up in the infirmary, unable to remember how it got there; wondering what had been so bad about my last question. I want him to bite me, to leave marks in and on my flesh so that I don't forget for weeks. I want-"

"The abuse you took from your captain." Lila interrupted, hiding the face that she what she wanted was not only slightly disturbing her but was concerning her. She wanted pain to be inflicted to her, that was very unhealthy and to be honest quite unexpected coming from the almost care free woman she knew Kate to be.

"Exactly!" She exclaimed in a voice that said 'someone finally understands'.

"Then do you wish there to be whips and chains, gags, rope leather and other harmful material to be within the room of your marriage bed Lady Kate?" From the sound of what she was describing that she wanted, it seemed that she would be into that kind of thing, like some of what she had named. One of Yui's wives had asked for a third party and yet another had asked for a live audience, so the whips and chains and stuff wouldn't be too surprising, it just was when it was coming from Kate.

Her eyes comically bugged "Hell no!"

Lila couldn't help but laugh at her reaction, as if the idea of Yui and whips and chains disturbed her, as if she couldn't believe that she had suggested such a thing. "Why don't you write letters or whatever in a journal?" She lamely suggested. It was never not worth a shot and if she was downright refused she could laugh it off and say she was joking, however Lady Kate just said,

"Ok, bring me a pen and a journal." Kate even added the word pleased as the depressed aura seemed to have magically lifted.

"Don't forget that we're getting the dress fixed at four, having dinner at five, picking the location of the ceremony-within the castle grounds of course- immediately after dinner in the library and once we've done those things you will have dance lessons with Yui." She said going over to a small delicate looking desk and pulling both ben and journal out. She returned and Kite rolled over onto her stomach, accepting both with a word of thanks before opening it to the first page. There were a few hours until Kate had anything to do so she began writing.

Dear Damn Diary,

I'm supposed to write 'letters' is you, but I think I'm just going to rant and rave about my day at the end of every day. I also think I'm going to call you Kidd. Why? You may ask, well. . . . Don't judge me, or get the wrong ideas or anything . . . but I sortta miss your dumb ass. Ok so I'm going to start with today- the fourth day that I've been here.

Kate flipped the page to begin writing about god knew what since today hadn't even started. She had yet to follow any schedules' or leave her room. On the top line she put entry one, day three, skipped a line and began,

Dammit Kidd, do you know how many needles I've been pricked with?! Don't you dare laugh ass wipe. Hey, maybe you should add it to your thing of ways to inflict pain upon me. And you don't even want to know how many shades of white there are! White, it's freaken white, there's only one shade! There's no neon white or hot white, no electric white or anything fun like that. I mean I can name fifty shades of black or blue- bruise anybody? Oh hey speaking of those things, I've yet to find one and wonder where and when I got it. But back to the color thing. But White come on!

And do you know what Lila suggested?! She suggested for there to be whips and chains in our marriage bed! Do you even know what a marriage bed is? No, well ask Killer, he might tell you.

Anyway I think I'm going to go ahead and tell you about the past three days because I just started letting out some steam and I hall of a lot more things to vent about and a lot of time to waste.

Kate skimmed the pen over to the blank paper across from the sheet she had just written on and on the top wrote entry two, day one- retracing my steps.

Lila watched as her mistress kicked her feet back and forth as she scribbled on the paper of the journal, sometimes looking pissed, other times she was smirking or grinning happily to herself.

She couldn't help but feel curious as to what she was writing and proud that she had managed to dispel Lady Kate's previous mood. "Lady Kate, I will return in a few minutes. We will be ready to start the planned events of the evening when I get back." The only response she got was a grunt. "If you wish to leave this room please remember your transponder snail." With that Lila left the room to go find Master Yui. When she did finally manage to find him she bowed briefly before straightening.

"What is it Lila?" He asked flipping his book over and giving her his full attention. He was open and vulnerable behind this closed door. He was prepared to accept and believe anything within reason that she might say.

Lila sighed if any of his previous wives- including Lady Kate- saw this side of him; they'd all die of shock or something. He was usually guarded, only expressed what he wanted you to see.

"I believe you should find another wife. Lade Kate is not well suited to you or your preferences." Well those things changed on a weekly basis but still. It was hard for her to keep eye contact and not lower her gaze to the ground and to not start muttering.

"What makes you say that?" He asked with a quiet 'hmm' at the end of it.

"You must know by that that she is completely enamored with her captain."

A sly grin replaced the contemplating line his lips had been before he leaned forwards, one hand under his chin, elbow on the desk. "Yes I know. But what could possibly be more alluring then a woman that you know you can't have?" Lila looked away muttering something under her breath. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that, and do not bother saying 'nothing' I want to hear your exact words." There was a slight pause, where Lila was trying to figure out how to say what she had muttered, not in the exact words she had used. But he seemed to realize this and said "That is not a request."

She looked up "Is it an order?" If it were a request she could refuse it, but she couldn't refuse an order, not without consequences. When he nodded she groaned, looking up at the ceiling with a heavy sigh, muttering the words 'of course'. She really didn't want him to hear what she had said under her breath, which is why she hadn't said it straight to him. But against her better judgment and following his orders she said "You see I said 'you're the one out of my reach'. But it's not like I meant anything by it. Just forget that I said anything." Lila could have punched more than a punching bag, herself, or a wall at that moment. This was absolutely mortifying!

"Very well. I will see you and Lady Kate in the dining hall for dinner."

"Yes Master Yui." With that Lila left. Once out of sight she punched a wall. It was his voice, his poor word choice and the vulnerability that he had around her. She told herself as she headed towards Kate's room. "Finally done writing?" She said with a smile as Kate looked up as she entered her room.

Kate rolled off of the bed and landed on her feet before saying a chipper "Yup."

"Ready Lady Kate?" she asked before Kate made a disgusted face as if she had just eaten something distasteful.

The dress fitting was as painful as it had been for the last few days. Kate's legs were stiff as she stood on the circular platform for a straight hour or so. Poked and prodded with needles, people asking her questions about things she hadn't any clues about only to have Lila step in and save her clueless ass each question that was asked.

She was then led to the dining room, yet another large echoing room with high ceilings large arched windows and doors and more than one entrance. The thing that distinguished this room from all of the other high ceiling, echoing rooms was the single mahogany table with fifteen million chairs down its length. At the far end sat an unusually majestic looking Yui. Lila pulled her chair out and pushed her up to the table.

"Good evening Lady Kate." He said as if they didn't have their problems. As if they were a happy couple, as if she didn't despise him or his damn castle.

She curtly nodded at him and asked "Must you have a throne like that at the dinner table?" The high backed chair reminded her of Kidd's throne, the one he had flung her from. The chair Yui sat in was his; obviously his because there was no other chair like it among the matching set that lined the tables' sides.

He watched her run her hand slowly back through her hair as she waited impatiently for him to answer. "Would you like one too?" he politely offered. If it made her happy he saw no reason to not allow her to craft her own chair.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes as silver platters of food were set down before them. "I don't care." Was all she offered.

"Why do you love that jacket so much? More importantly why won't you let Nicole tailor it so that it actually fits you?" He asked gesturing to the jacket that he hadn't seen her without since he had presented it to her.

"I'll have you know that it's a perfect fit." She sneered at him, as if he should have known this, as she rolled up the miles too long sleeves so that they wouldn't get in her food.

"You only like it because it belongs to your captain do you not?" Yui asked her.

"You sound as though you're trying to imply something. And no, you're wrong. I loved it the moment I laid eyes on it." She paused but reading his expression interrupted him, "To save your breath, I love it because it's oversized," Kate ticked off her index finger with absolutely no clue as to how many reasons she was going to be able to tick off. ",It's warm." She ticked off another finger then chuckled. "And yeah, I'll admit it, there is a certain amount of satisfaction in the fact that I can still bother him with a growing as we speak distance between us. But I love the jacket, not its wearer."

He finished his bite before asking "Are you sure Lady Kate? For a woman who's about to get married, who's leading a new life, you sure think about your old life, your old captain a lot."

"So?" She shrugged. She could think about whatever she wanted, new or old, two seconds a go of eighteen years ago. It's not like he could read minds, so it didn't matter.

"Speaking of old lives, I'm revoking your bounty."

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A/N: Can you believe it? You've been with me, Kidd, Kate and Killer for 20 chapters! (This is quite an accomplishment for me, especially with the longer chapters and everything. I loves you all (I know we went over this a few chapters ago and all) but I still appreciate and love you all.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	21. Locations and Lessons Gone Wrong

At those words Kate began choking. Revoking her bounty?!What in the name of Roger gave him that authority, the power to do that?! "I-I. . . worked h-h-hard. . .." she choked, Yui only coolly watching as some strangers hand beat against her back.

"You are no longer a pirate, you are my bride, and you therefore have no need for a bounty. You are no longer a threat to the World Government."

Through a coughing fit and watering eyes Kate managed the words "Fuck it." The boy continued nonchalantly eating, watching her carefully as she finally regained her breath. She used the sleeve of Kidd's jacket to wipe her eyes. The rest of dinner was eaten in complete silence, steely, tense silence. Kate considered lunging at the boy with her fork or maybe the butter knife to gouge out his eyes or something. Her bounty, he was revoking it! That thing was her pride, and when she saw Kidd next she had planned on rubbing it in his face. But she couldn't do that if there was no bounty to be had. She noticed how there were nothing sharper than a butter knife at the table, or anywhere near her in fact. Kate thought that she'd do a great job on Yui with a fork and butter knife, but after counting too many people for her to take on with the silverware; she decided to civilly imagine other chances and scenarios in which she might have the chance to best him. Whatever method, it was going to be painful.

"I shall see you at our dance lessons later tonight." His voice cut into her thoughts as he scooted the throne like chair back. Kate heard him but chose to ignore him, making no move to show that she had heard him.

"Ok." Lila said unrolling a map, using a paper weight and three books to keep the curling inwards corners from rolling into the cylinder it had been in for god only knew how long. The map had several x's on it, twenty eight of those black x's as Kate had counted.

"What are the x's?" She asked pointing to one of them. The map was obviously that of the castle, a simple outline of the floor plans and the four different gardens that surrounded the castle. One side was a greenhouse jungle garden- quite amazing with snakes, wild cats, flowers that could easily consume her and creepy crawlies. It was her favorite of the four.

"Where the previous ceremonies were held." Lila easily explained. She had been getting to that had Kate not gotten ahead of her.

For a good twenty minutes Lila made suggestions, pointing to the places that Kate rejected. Her ceremony was going to be memorable, meaning it couldn't be held where the other brides had held theirs- and that unfortunately included the jungle greenhouse. Kate pointed and when Lila didn't get it, she asked "Has anyone ever tried the roof?"

"The roof, are you cr-"

"Yeah. Then doves can be released and fireworks can go off, the sun can set and-"

"You want white doves to be released? Are you even- You're not even pure for master Yui, meaning you can't have the release of something that symbolizes purity."

"How do you know?" Kate huffed.

"You told me you weren't a virgin."

"Oh. Right." She seemed to get depressed for a few minutes before suddenly cheering up "Then we can do other birds right?" she smiled. She was an awfully smiley pirate. Lila thought. Lady Kate had shattered her mental image of a female pirate. Kate wasn't gruff and rude, she didn't shout profane things and wasn't a filthy drunk either.

"Maybe. I just can't believe that you want birds to be released." Lila shook her head.

"Yes of course. I minds well have fun with what I can. I mean I don't even know when they'll be back for me. It could be years for all I know." It had better not be years. Kate mentally growled. If they were going to take years then she wasn't going to wait for them to come and get her.

"What makes you so sure that they'll be back for you?" She questioned the confident pirate woman.

"Oniichan promised, he doesn't break promises . . . most of the time. Plus he returned my necklace. They'll be back." Kate said. She had complete confidence in them- well her brother. Kidd was another story all together, especially if faith and confidence was involved. The conversation about jumping off or cliffs and water were called to mind at the thought of faith and confidence in their relationship. Lila was shocked that Lady Kate completely trusted them and her oniichan's word, as if pirates weren't thieving, lying, despicable creatures.

"Yui won't give you up that easily." Lila said only to have Lady Kate laugh and turn her attention back to the map and ask,

"So can we do the roof? I could jump off and scare the living shit, or even the lives out of everyone." Her eyes lit up at the idea of giving the noblemen and women heart attacks, as if they weren't already talking, the ones who had survived the attack at the unveiling party that was.

"I'll talk to Master Yui about it." She looked up at the clock hanging on one of the pillars throughout the room before asking, "Can you find your way to the ballroom?"

"Are you crazy? I can hardly find my way to my quarters from any given point of the castle and you're asking me to find some ballroom, how many of those does this place have?"

"Right. I forgot you can't find your way out of a paper bag." She didn't bother muttering. If her attitude offended Lady Kate she would have muttered it, but the girl for the most part didn't seem to care.

"Why learn when I have somebody to lead me around? And it's not like you guys have bothered to put up any user friendly maps anywhere."

"You'd still get lost." Lila told her. Maps wouldn't help the girl because she'd get lost or forget the instructions but forget the way back to the map to check to see if she was going the right way.

"Very true Lila. So to save us an hour o me being lost, let's go."

"No, I want you to lead me-"he wanted the girl to at least know her way around the more important rooms of the castle.

"Then we should have started this hours ago."

"I'll correct your mistakes." She finished with a glare. With that they headed out. Lady Kate took every wrong turn imaginable, starting at the door of the largest library the castle had. Fortunately they weren't late in arriving to the pirates dance lessons. Lila opened the door, pushed Kate in and left them to themselves, not leaving the hallway incase Yui needed to be saved from the woman. He wasn't a good fighter, the only thing he had going for him was his gravity like devil fruit ability. If he didn't have that, Lila would insist that he either get a personal guard of sorts or learn to fight.

"I know how to dance." Kate said defiantly, crossing her arms just inside the room she had been shoved into by her so called maid and body guard.

"I'm sure. But the faster you learn this dance, the faster you can leave."

She studied him for a minute before shifting and asking "Promise?" It didn't sound too bad, she could even think about it like Killer training her. He'd show her something by himself, then stand in front of her of behind her and slowly go through how her body would feel during the move, sometimes moving her limbs and then he'd make her practice it until she perfected it. It didn't matter the number of times she had passed out- and there was usually one of two of those- but when she woke up it was back to work, so the quicker she learned, the better it was for her health. When the blonde boy smiled at her, she dropped her crossed arms, slipped off Kidd's jacket and walked towards him.

He positioned himself and said "Grab my hands." Silently she obeyed, wondering what kind of complicated dance she was going to be forced to learn with this bozo. With her hands clasped in his he yanked her body closer while saying "Just follow my lead." At first Kate had troubled letting him control their pace and their direction. It was silent, they were dancing to a tune that only Yui could hear, the one he was whispering in her ear in the form of numbers. No conversation was to be had until they were effortlessly spinning and twirling around the empty ballroom with no resistance from Kate, who was following his every step and whim. "Only took you forty five rather painful minutes for you to realize that I'm in control." He said sweetly with a fake smile to back it up.

"You mean the leader." When he said noting, Kate decided to keep talking. "You know, why don't you just marry- or whatever- Lila?"

"Why would I do such a thing when I have such an exotic and beautiful woman such as yourself?"

"One I'm not exotic. Two I won't always be yours. And three that lady loves you, not me. Hell, I will ever love you," Even if they never come for me, Kate silently added the last part. "To be honest, I hate you."

"I'm waiting." Yui said and when he received a 'what the hell for?' look from the pirate woman, he chuckled and continued. ",for her to make her move." She had been so close the other day, so close to telling him how she felt, but she had been embarrassed. It had been kind of cute the way her face flushed bright pink, the way she wanted him to forget about their exchange.

"Grow a fucking set." Kate growled at him, her eyes narrowing. She knew that he knew about Lila would never make the first move. Lila thought it wrong for her to have any romantic feelings towards her master, meaning that she wasn't going to ever tell him, not to his face. "Be the man you've yet to become." She literally spat in his face, bringing their dancing to an instant halt. Kate cocked her head to the side looking confused as he wiped the flecks of spit off of his cheek. "Does this mean that we're-"

"Yes. Get out of my sight." He demanded.

Kate wondered briefly if she were to stay and make him mad what would happen. Would she fear for her life, would her adrenaline get pumping or would he regain his composure and vent later when she was out of sight. But she just let out a happy squeal, not too different than the one she had let out when she had received Kidd's jacket, kissed Yui on his freshly wiped cheek, turned and ran to the door, scooping up the discarded jacket on the way. After a few minutes of pounding the door was finally open and Kate was let out.

Lila didn't have to see Yui's face to know that their dance lessons weren't stopped because he was satisfied that Lady Kate wouldn't embarrass him before all the spectators who came to witness the coming together of Master Yui and his twenty-ninth bride, but because she had done something displeasing to him- but then again where was the surprise in that?

Surprisingly enough when Lady Kate left the ballroom she turned down the right way. After nodding at Yui with an encouraging smile, Lila followed behind Kate, correcting her incorrect turns. "Would you like me to tell you tomorrow's schedule?" She asked even though she doubted that Lady Kate wanted to hear it.

"No." she grumbled. She didn't want to spend all night, the rest of the Yui free time she had, worrying about and dreading what was to come. She had better things to do in her free time.

"Well I'm telling you anyway." Lila announced going against her mistress' wishes. Lila heard the grumbled word 'figures' slip from Kate's mouth before she continued, "Besides scheduled meals with Master Yui, you will be making invitations with him around noon or so. You will not be allowed to sleep past eleven o'clock." Yui hardly ever ate breakfast and therefore Kate was not required to wake up at eight and eat with him. Which was a good thing because Lady Kate was no an early riser. She sleep walked and sometimes muttered Kidd's or Killer's name but being woken up was not something that Lady Kate enjoyed. And even with not having to rise before nine, eleven was still too early for her liking. However a half hour was not an adequate amount of time to get ready for the day and presentable for Master Yui, so eleven thirty was not an option.

"Whoo." She dryly muttered before in a more enthusiastic voice said "Oh! Hey, remember how you were going to put whips and chains in our marriage bed?" She waited eagerly for Lila's response, once she got the small nod of her head, Kate continued, "Well I changed my mind. I'd like a pair of metal handcuffs." That's all she wanted though. No gags or whips or chains, or riding crops, or rope or anything besides cold metal handcuffs.

"Sure thing Lady Kate." Pool Lila thought that the blonde woman was finally beginning to warm up the idea of sharing a marriage bed with Master Yui. Unfortunately she didn't see the smile on her lips, one that would have made her stop and ask what in the name of hell she was up to.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	22. Handcuffs and Marriage beds

Killer would never tell this to Kidd's face, but he had been a miserable mess for the past five days.

On the first day he was as high as the clouds, enjoying the silence that Kate usually filled, enjoying the peace that hadn't been present for a while and most of all enjoying the idea that there was no Kate and would never be any Kate again. He had finally managed to get rid of his sister, something he had been trying to do since she had come aboard his ship

But after the first three and a half days, his high had come crashing down. And when it had all hell had broken loose. Kidd had almost sunk the ship more than nine times. He was a hell of a lot more irritable then he had ever been before or during Kate's brief visit. Everyone was tiptoeing on eggshells when around him. He was a ticking time bomb, set to go off at random intervals and just because he had blown up two minutes ago that didn't mean that you couldn't set him off again.

Killer really wished that his captain would just get over himself, swallow his pride and turn the ship around. But he knew it wasn't going to happen, not of Kidd's own free will.

Killer couldn't request Kidd to do so because Kate's name set him off the most. The mention of her name, anything that could be even slightly related to her and even the previous island were all things that pushed him over the edge.

When Killer bought the paper a small piece of paper fell to the deck at his feet, taking his attention from the headlines. Picking it up he recognized Kate's chicken scratch writing. If he didn't know how to decipher her writing by now he wouldn't be able to tell which of the two words scrawled on the paper was his name.

He flipped it over and read it at least ten times pocketing a smaller pink paper not bothering to figure out its meaning at that moment, before heading across the deck.

Kidd had his feet propped atop his desk, his chair resting on two legs, a knife being twirled absentmindedly in one hand, a thoughtful yet irritated expression on his face. Even without the fucking bitch on his ship she found a way to haunt him, making the purpose of her being gone null and void. Not only that but, his recent outbursts were troubling him deeply. They were not only annoying the shit out of him but also putting him and his crew in danger of being sunk and stranded in the middle of the ocean. There was no fucking reason that he should be reacting so strongly to Kate's name or the mention of her. Even though she was gone Kate was still to blame for all of his problems. That thought made the frown on his lips deepen.

With a half sigh, half growl Kidd stood, walked around the side of the desk and threw open the door, only to nearly run into his first mate. They both began speaking at the same time. Kidd coolly glared at Killer until he shut up, taking note of the red thing in his hand but saying nothing about it as he growled "We're turning the damn ship around." Fuck the fact that they didn't have a damn eternal log pose to the previous island. "And getting your fucking sister." Narrowing his eyes he grumbled "I thought I told you she was your responsibility."

"Thank you." Killer said. No one would ever know how grateful and relieved he was to not have to fight Kidd about going back and getting Kate, even if he had a hunch that something like this might happen. The wedding invitation he held in hand had crossed the line of things he'd let happen to Kate if he could help it. Killer thought there'd be a bit more time to convince Kidd to turn around, but conveniently enough everything had not gone according to plan but had fallen into place instead. "I'll get the eternal log pose." he turned and went to find the pose he had bought; surprised that Kidd hadn't stopped him. Or maybe he hadn't heard him. That must be it. Killer thought as he walked to his room to retrieve it for Kidd.

Lila was nagging at her to get up, to stop writing, that she could write later, after the ceremony. But Kate begged to differ as she began furiously writing in the journal diary thing that she had named Kidd. She had documented that last two weeks, threatened everyone she could think of, she vented and just wrote like she were talking to Kidd himself. All of that had made each unbearable day slightly more bearable.

"Ten minutes!" Kate shouted, picking up her pace, her writing hurried and she knew that if Killer ever saw the writing it would get her a 'you need to practice your chicken scratch, it's hardly legible' speech.

"No, now. We have to- you're not even completely ready!" Lila snapped at her. They fought until Kate got her desired ten minutes of writing. Turning away from her body guard slash maid, Kate began scribbling on a new piece of paper.

Dear Damned Kidd,

You're late! (you too Killer and crew!) I swear if you don't get here before I have to use those handcuffs I'm going to murder you both, or die trying at least. You guys know you should have killed Yui 'kidnapped' me and have been on our way when you had the chance. If you had we wouldn't be in this mess now.

Now that I'm done yelling at you buffoons, I'll describe the ceremony you guys had better interrupt- I invited you assholes a week ago for a reason. I've also altered my plan slightly; I've decided to not have the handcuffs waiting under the pillow or something of our marriage bed. Instead I have decided that I will have them on me for an element of surprise, after all the boy did say that he liked surprises.

Kate was in the middle of writing about the ceremony, and the things they had let her pick out and was adding the finishing touched to the not too shabby sketch of her dress when Lila told her that her ten minutes were over.

She quickly shoved her white combat boots into her arms the moment the pen was put down. They were identical to her worn old black ones, except that they were crisp, unbroken in and white. They- Kate against Lila, Yui and some other random person- had fought over her wearing her boots until she won . . . sortta. She could wear boots but they had to be white, like her dress and undergarments. The color of the dress had also lead to a fight because Kate kept insisting that white symbolized pureness or something like that and purity was something that she wasn't even remotely close to, it was the reason that they weren't releasing doves after all. But they had won that fight, even with red symbolizing passion, love and lust. Or blue symbolizing tranquility or yellow and happiness. It wasn't fair that her dress didn't get to be as colorful as the ceremony was going to be.

Kate pulled on her boots and the moment her fingers tightened the double knot Lila's hand encircled her wrist and with that she was being dragged behind her at a rather rapid speed. Kate gathered the skirt of her dress in her one free hand to keep from accidentally stepping on it and ruining it. Though it wasn't too bad of an idea, it would certainly irk Yui if she showed up in a dress he hadn't agreed on.

Upon coming to the rooftop colorful birds were to be released in a flurry of wings and feathers. Big bright and exotic flowers from some little prehistoric garden somewhere on the Grand Line had been imported. Yui was using his devil fruit power to keep all the spectators on the roof, keeping the nobles and whoever else was allowed to show up, from falling off the roof. Maybe she'd get the chance to push one.

The red 2-d looking circle of blazing fire that was called the sun had turned the sky a color that Kate would call periwinkle- what a strange and funny word to say aloud-, the clouds hot pink and vibrant orange, almost golden. When it turned pitch back at the end of the promising to be lame ceremony, fireworks were going to explode in large bursts of sound and color around them. Then Yui was going to take her and all of the other guest down to the ballroom that connected to the banquet hall where they were going to dance for only a few brief moments before he was going to take her to the room in which held their marriage bed and from there he would have his way with her.

However, if Kate were to have her way, he wouldn't. Not with her.

But first she had to make it to the rooftop. In short the ceremony was exactly what it had promised to be L-A-M-E, lame, and even more boring. She was going to be lucky to have not died of boredom before the ceremony part of the event was over. For the life of her Kate couldn't figure out why the hell anyone would want to come watch and sit through even half of one, let alone twenty-nine of these damned things. It was almost painful and she was the one in it, no observing!

Upon the last of burst of noise and bright searing color Yui held his hand out to her and asked "Shall we?" When she begrudgingly placed her hand lightly in his he smiled and together they led the rich and very boring snobs to the ballroom, where they filed in, leaving a large circular berth of space around the couple. Yui bowed low to her and asked "May I have this dance?"

"Do I have a choice?" She glared at his doubled over hack, wondering if she would immediately be attacked or jumped upon kicking him or sending a fist down to the back of his head, sending him to the floor. For all Kate cared he could kiss it and bust his lip- in fact she hoped that he busted his lip.

Straightening he smiled, very charming, very fake. "You always have choices. But I'd prefer you make the correct one." With that and no consent, he pulled her close and much like they had briefly practiced, danced. The crowd became but a blur, their watchful, condescending eyes trailing every move, every twist, twirl and turn they made. Kate wanted to scream at the noble people that they weren't picture perfect, that they were flawed in some way and absolutely above no one. But before she could utter even a word a sound of surprise slipped from her mouth as she was literally swept off of her feet and carried out of the room by Yui.

When the ballroom doors shut, Lila began trailing them a respectful distance behind them silently, sternly keeping bearing as they made their way through the hallways. Yui even carried her down some staircases and many many more hallways that had Kate completely confused and all turned about. For all she knew they were walking in circles.

Finally though they came to a stop at the most bland rectangular door she had seen since having arrived at the castle. It wasn't large or arched, there were no pictures hung on it or carvings in it. It was simply a grey metal door.

Stupid. Kate scoffed to herself snidely. Had they not done research on Eustass Kidd? Well metal door or not it was not going to stop Eustass Kidd or the Massacre Soldier did they feel the need to actually show up sometime before anything could happen to her.

With his foot Yui nudged the door open, still carrying her as they entered the room. Passing the door he kicked it shut blocking any outside light out. It took a few minutes for her eyes to adjust to the dim flickering lights that lined the walls. The room itself was small in comparison to the other rooms she had been in, but the ceiling was lost in the shadowy darkness above their heads. There was but one piece of furniture in the shadowy room. Two small steps led up to the monstrosity that was resting on a platform in the middle of the room. It was larger than the one she had been sleeping in for the last three to four weeks in and that thing was three times larger than the one that her and Killer shared on the ship. The room had no other entrances- or exits as a matter of fact- and no windows either. The floors were slick tile obscured in twitching shadows.

Slowly Yui carried her towards the bed, as if he were enjoying the buildup. As he did so she noticed a bar at both the head and foot of the bed, perfect for binding! Kate excitedly thought to herself. With each sharp footstep that clicked through the silent air, anticipation welled up more and more inside her. Of course it was for a reason far different from Yui's anticipation, but it was enough to make her smile and nearly squirm in his arms.

He ascended the stairs and gently lay her down on the fluffy bed that reminded her of the fur in the neckline of Kidd's beautiful jacket. Yui climbed on top of her, their eager mouths finding each other as he did so. Kate had to grudgingly admit that he wasn't too bad of a kisser- Kidd was still far better. Kate would much rather Kidd's tongue painfully trying to invade her mouth as she refused to allow him in, forcing him to think of ways to make her give into him, his unusually dark colored lips trailing kisses the over sensitive skin of her neck, biting and breaking skin along the way, then Yui's tentative, almost cautious mouth gently nibbling and sucking on her bottom lip, almost sweetly asking for entrance to be granted. When she didn't respond he simply moved on, slowly down her jaw and across her collarbone. She shuddered, moaning on accident a few times, making her wish that her neck wasn't so damn sensitive.

When his mouth returned to hers, she rolled them over so that she was on top, a feat that wouldn't be easily accomplished with Kidd. Kate smiled down at him as she propped her elbow on the top of his chest and rested her chin on her clenched fist, saying "Much better don't 'cha think?"

Yui reached behind her pulling the bow of the ribbon that laced the corset styled top of the dress loose and began unlacing it, wondering why the back was laced instead of zipped. If it were a simple zipper it would be much easier.

When Kate was suddenly able to breathe better than before she began freaking out. If she didn't act soon her plans weren't going to be able to be fulfilled. "I remember you saying something about enjoying surprises, am I wrong?"

Yui watched Kate trail her hand up her small body as she spoke, collecting his arms above him with the other hand. "Hmm, it seems you're right." He managed in a hoarse voice, wondering what she was doing.

Reaching into her dress she grabbed ahold of the warm metal. Quickly she pulled it out and reached up saying "That's good, great in fact." Her fumbling hands opened the manacles of the cuffs after folding them around the metal bar above his head. To be honest, she was quite pleased with how well things were going. At this rate she would be able to meet Killer and Kidd and maybe even the rest of the crew at the door- assuming she could even find the door from here. At that thought Kate smiled, she could then say to both men that she didn't need to be saved, that she could take care of herself. That she was-

"I'd have to say, you almost got me." Before she could fully comprehend his words the room was a blur of shadows and orange before she came to a halt on her back, staring up into those caramel colored eyes, his blonde hair was almost turned vibrant golden from the surrounding lights fell into his eyes, casting shadows across his face. Her fingers had lost their clumsy grip on the cooling metal and her wrists were trapped under his single hand. "It's such a shame that you didn't have these handcuffs for other purposes." Yui leaned down, closer to her face, smirking as she defiantly turned her head away, closing her eyes as she did so, reminding him of a child who didn't want to take their medicine. "If only you had begun acting sooner. If you had you surely would have gotten me for sure." Kate was too busy cursing herself, Yui and of course her failure to be listening to his almost apologetic sounding words to notice that he had released her wrists- maybe if she had noticed this, things would have turned out different. However she didn't fail to notice cool metal slip around her wrists and with that the sound of them clicking into place, bringing the overwhelming feeling of panic and alarm set in.

Now she wasn't going to be able to meet anyone at any door, even the door to the room. She wasn't going to pray that she wouldn't get lost looking for the exit. Now she had to depend on Kidd, Killer and the Kidd Pirates to come save her. She was going to have to pray that they wouldn't be too late. "It's a shame that we couldn't have any real fun." He said this with a frown of disappointment as his thumb tracing slowly over her lips.

Unable to resist temptation Kate bit him. Even though she'd much rather damage his reproductive system, his body and the handcuffs stopped her from doing so. So she was just going to have to settle for biting him.

Kidd. Kate mentally shouted at him. If he were a telepath he'd be able to hear her. But nooo, he just had to go eat some metal attracting devil fruit. Well if he couldn't hear her then some divine force could. This would be a really great time for you to make your grand entrance, to steal the show, to come crashing in since you not only failed to interrupt the ceremony but also the dance!

If he thought she hated him no, if he didn't come or let Killer come she was- well she could think about all the things she'd do the Kidd later, once she was out of this mess. To be honest she'd probably haunt him and his ship. Right now though, she had to end off Yui and try to find a way out of the cuffs that weren't even sea stone.

It wasn't enough that her plan hadn't worked, but she just had to wind up on her back, the one laying helpless and bound, talk about life being unfair.

"When do you give up?" Yui asked with a heavy sigh, as if he wished that she'd give into him now that her hands were immobilized above her head, as if he even remotely expected her to give in because of her position.

Killer hadn't raised her to give up. And only when it was clear that no one was going to interrupt them, escape was five hundred percent for sure not going to happen and when her hope and fighting spirit were gone, might she consider giving up. But even then, with a boy like Yui, it didn't seem very likely. "Let me think about it." Kate pretended to audibly ponder the answer. "That would be never." Just like according to Killer, she never learned.

"This will be much more enjoyable for the both of us if you don't struggle."

Kate just laughed at him. Maybe he didn't understand, but if she didn't struggle, didn't fight back and make things difficult for him, if she didn't try to prevent him from enjoying himself as much as she could then she'd be going against who she was. Her very nature and everything she had been taught and had learned. Then his words registered themselves in her mind and her eyes widened at the thought. "H-hey, you're not going to r-rape me are you?" To say that she was suddenly afraid was an understatement. All the things that he could do to her flashed through her mind.

Yui watched fear- no absolute terror- flash in her eyes, across her features. Not mere seconds after that the girl beneath him began thrashing around, twisting, kicking, hollering and threatening him. "It's not rape if you like it Lady Kate." He quietly said in a soothing voice, as if his words and tone were supposed to calm her down. But it had the opposite effect on her.

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A/N: My friend said that Kidd was being too mopey (moody maybe) without Kate. . .i don't think he's being mopey at all. . .but what it boiled down to was her thinking that he was ooc during that time. . .did I make him ooc? (I'm sooooo sorry if I did) I hope it is not too rushed. . . .

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	23. Saving Someone's Sorry Ass

A single figure stormed out of the room, wide open doors revealing a room that had been filled with mindless chatter, movement, dancing, light and laughter not ten minutes ago. Now it was dead silent, dim and still. Only sticky, crimson liquid creeping across cooling flesh, rich fabrics and slick tiled floors. Of the three once magnificently hanging chandeliers that had gently illuminated that large open room, only one hung, swaying dangerously from the ceiling. The other two had gone crashing to the floor with deafening crashes and loud screams of pain and terror, crushing many people and leaving large cracked craters in the once upon a time level floor.

"It seems we're a bit late." A blonde man said easily matching his long angry strides, a slip of paper in his hand. On it were lots of lines and arrows and three stars. The first star had the word roof in parenthesis and that had been their first destination. However no one had been there. The second star was supposed to indicate the light room in which his captain had just stormed out of not only empty handed but also leaving the room considerably darker as if he had tainted the room and its light.

"That fucking whore. When I get my hands on her I'm going to-"

"We have to find her first." Killer reminded his captain, interrupting before he was given a very detailed description of the things Kidd planned to do to his sister, the ones he'd prefer not to hear; no matter how empty the threats may or may not be.

Kidd couldn't fucking believe that he was doing this for the little bitch Killer claimed was his younger sister. He didn't even know why he was doing this in the first place, why he was going through so much trouble for Kate.

Looking over at Killer he reached over and snatched the small light pink paper from Killers hand. "What the fuck?" He growled looking over the piece of paper several times. He was in no mood to play any god-damn games or solve any fucking puzzles or riddles.

Killer reached over and pointed to a curved arrow and said "We turn here." As he pressed against Kidd's shoulder in the way they were supposed to turn. Then for Kidd's sake added "It's a roughly drawn map." It had taken him awhile to figure it out himself, a few days to be exact. It didn't help that his captain was not currently in a figuring things out mood. They made several more turns down sever more hallways and even down a few staircases that varied in length.

Anyone they encountered was immediately taken care of. Neither captain not first mate had the patience it took to play around and enjoy the person's screams of pain and agony or shouts of mercy and pleas for their petty lives before them. Neither was in the mood to even enjoy the act of killing as they systematically took care of the people unfortunate enough to come across the two pirates.

Rounding a corner they were only steps away from the final star. At one of the doors lounged a woman about Kate's age with maroon colored hair pulled back in a loose braid. She seemed to be seemingly guarding the door. "I'll take care of her." Killer announced quietly, racing ahead of his captain to clear the doorway for him.

She was so caught up in struggling, in trying to injure Yui and to stop his advances towards her, to deter him, that even though she heard something crash into something else not too far from her, she paid no mind to it, the loud noise hardly registering in her mind.

The only things Yui had managed to remove was the slip under her dress, their shoes and his top. He wasn't nearly as sculpted as Kidd, hardly had a six pack. In her ear he had quietly told her that he wasn't the fast and rough type, that he was going to take all night to make sweet love to her. Those words had resulted in Kate getting the closest to disabling Yui's ability to have children, to reducing him to a whimpering mess on the floor that she had managed to get.

However with a shout- well it sounded like a shout in the nearly silent room- Yui's body was flung off of hers by some invisible force. She watched his body sail through the air and slam against the far wall of the room and then slide down to the floor before she turned her attention to the other side of the room to see a tall, strong and rather pissed off looking redhead standing there. The dim flickering fire did wonders, the way the shadows flicked across his face, the fire illuminating his wide 'I'm going to fucking enjoy this' grin- no Cheshire smile, that Kate couldn't help but shudder at.

With the emperors body off of Kate's Kidd saw her laying there, her arms above her head. The flicking light caught something metallic around her wrists and he realized that the reason she was still lying there was because she couldn't get up, not that she didn't want to, but that she couldn't do so because she was handcuffed to the par that was conveniently placed at both the head and foot of the bed.

"What took you so long?" She asked using an angry tone with him, as if it were her fault that she had given him and Killer shitty directions.

Kate knew that she shouldn't have trusted two men with a map sketched by her. One of the two men were here, they had managed to get here because of her little map and that's all that really mattered to Kate. Yui wasn't going to make any sweet love to her and he wasn't going to take all night doing so either. "

"Your god-damned instructions." He growled at her. She was damn lucky that he was even here, that he had returned to the island. Someone seriously needed to remind him why the fuck he had chosen to come back, to save Kate's fucking ass in the first place. "Do me a favor." He said as the emperor rose to his feet slower than Kate had after hitting the wall somewhere in the middle of one of their spats. Neither Kate nor Kidd paid him much mind.

"I'm just a bit tied up here, so try not to be too ridiculous with your 'favors'." She snapped at him, putting quotation marks around the word favors with her fingers. Just because her wrists were bound it didn't mean that her fingers were immobile too. Could they just get to the part where the handcuffs were removed? Kate would really appreciate if they could hurry up their fighting.

"It's nothing too taxing." He sneered as he watched Kate's expression of annoyance as he shrugged off his jacket and folded it over his arm before tossing the heavy doubled over article of clothing over the foot of the bed. As he stepped away he said "Just keep my jacket safe."

"Didn't think you cared." She grumbled at him, subtly trying to reach it. The fur of the collar was the closest bit of the entire thing, just out of reach. Didn't he have more of his jackets stashed somewhere? Because the one Kate had stolen for her was waiting to comfort her in her room in case they had actually failed to show up tonight. Incase Yui had managed to have his way with her, had taken all night to make sweet love to her.

"I don't." Kidd flashed her an 'I know exactly what I'm doing to you' grin before he turned his attention to the emperor.

Kate lifted her head to watch them, but her neck ached after only a few minutes of holding it up. But she ended up missing most of the fight, which sucked because she had yet to figure out what devil fruit Yui had eaten, what had allowed him to walk on air.

The girl before him must be Lila. Killer thought to himself as the girl dodged yet another attack with ease, pushing her back away from the door that Kidd had just repelled inwards. She crouched low to the floor and reached behind her pulling out what Killer first though was a black sword. But upon her curling both hands around the cylindrical surface and sliding it out so that its length was at least doubled, he realized that it was a Bo staff. An uncommon weapon of choice. But if wielded by an experienced or the correct person, might actually pose a threat to him, especially if she could keep up with his speed.

She smirked at him and said "Don't tell me you've already underestimated me because I'm a girl." Her narrowed black eyes shone with what looked excitement.

"I have a sister." Killer told the girl, sure that she already knew who he was and who he was to Kate. It was not only dangerous but also foolish to predetermine someone's strength by their gender. While it was true that men were stronger by nature, there was nothing saying that women couldn't be strong. The Amazon Lily were just one example that came to mind. Kate was the second.

"Aaah yes, Kate." She said, her sarcastic tone became soft as if she were fond of his sister. "She's a doll, too sweet to be a filthy pirate." Her face scrunched up in distaste. Kate certainly wasn't suited to the life of a royal, or to being a bride of any sorts. She'd much rather slaughter them before spending her life among them. Killer suspected that the only reason that Kate was still here was because he had promised that they'd be back. "From the sounds of it her and Mr. Eustass Kidd, if I'm not mistaken, have quite an unhealthy relationship." She said after a minute of silence as she caught him off guard, the end of the staff catching him in the stomach, sending an electric shock coursing through his body from his core. Killer bit back a few curses as she danced out of range. Coming to a stop a safe distance away from him she cocked her head to the side with a look of . . . was that admiration in her eyes? Surely Killer wasn't seeing right. "Not even doubled over, impressive. A direct hit like that usually renders people unconscious."

"What gives you the impression that Kidd and Kate's relationship is unhealthy?" He asked her. Killer wanted to know how she had reached this conclusion without having witnessed Kidd and Kate's erratic behavior when they were together, or as a matter of fact alone, without one another.

The girl before him was more than likely Lila, the girl that Kate had told him not to kill then proceeded to write several paragraphs explaining why she didn't want him killing the maroon haired girl.

"Well you see oniichan," She sneered one of Kate's nicknames for him. ",she wanted Master Yui to hurt her, to scream, shout and curse at her. She wanted to try and hurt him only to get hurt in turn. That my friend is not healthy." By the sounds of it, Kate had talked a lot about them, what a surprise.

"You're right." Was he going to have to have some kind of talk about that? Killer would prefer not to since the emotional talks and moments weren't one of his strong suits, and what would he have to talk to her about anyway?

"You're her brother do something about it."

"She's stubborn." He began but stopped. Why was he trying to explain anything to a complete stranger?

"True. But you and I both know that she's too far . . . gone . . . to be brought back. We both know that they're too involved in each other."

It was nice to know that someone agreed with him. He landed a heavy blow to her right hand with a rather painful sounding crack, knocking the long thin weapon he had been hit with too many times for his liking, out of her hands with a quiet, "I know."

She shook her injured hand out as if a punch had hurt her hand more than it had the one she had punched. "Right. Forgot you were trying to kill me." She scowled, though at having forgotten or at him, he couldn't tell.

"No. Not trying to kill." If he wanted to kill her then she'd be dead already. It wasn't that he was toying with her like he had Jarodeth; he'd get a lot more enjoyment out of this if he were. But he wasn't seriously fighting her either. And judging from her widening eyes she knew it too.

"You know I'd offer you a cup of tea- or would you prefer alcohol? Heck how do you even drink with that mask of yours?" She veered off subject cocking her head in curiosity. "So that we could enjoy a drink while we further discuss your sister and your captain's problems but. . . ." She trailed off with a shrug. ",I guess we gotta keep up the act." Killer could tell that she was worried about something in the room because she kept casting quick glances away from him and towards the black doorway. Though he couldn't tell if she were worried about Kate or the emperor.

Lila wasn't very confident in Master Yui's fighting ability, not against Eustass Kidd; one of the most reckless and ruthless pirates out there. And not in that room. Lila bet that Lady Kate had somehow managed to end up getting herself handcuffed to the bed, meaning that they couldn't go flinging the sole piece of furniture in the room around as if it were a weapon. Looking back at the tall blonde she said "You know it's quite rude to blast doors in like that." The redhead could have hit Yui or Kate, or hell both of them! "We're going to have to replace it."

"I'm aware." Killer said. At least she didn't say that they were going to replace the door. Maybe she knew how futile it was to even say anymore on the subject.

It was silent for a few seconds as Lila managed to kick her weapon up into her hands with a slight grimace and a hissed 'ow' before regaining her composure and asking "You know what I'd suggest for the two of them?"

If Killer wasn't slightly interested in this conversation he'd have long since told her to shut up, he wouldn't have bothered to be polite about it either. "Hmm?" He responded. Since he wasn't going to kill the girl, or even take her to the brink of death, he could engage in conversation with her.

"Personally I wouldn't let those two too far away from each other." The end of the staff blocked his kick before she dropped down to swipe his supporting leg out from under him. "I don't know how it was on your side with your captain, but with Lady Kate," Lila laughed, shaking her head, flipping her long braid over her shoulder. ", The girl didn't cheer up until I told her to write in a journal. She agreed and then proceeded to name it Kidd and wrote everything in it. Quite an interesting writing style, way better than our scribes. Has your sister ever considered being an author?" Of course Lila had read it whenever she got the chance. She had to make sure that she wasn't plotting Master Yui's demise-which was something she knew Kate wouldn't mind- or scheming any piratey things against the islands Master Yui ruled over. "Would you like to have it? Honestly I had a feeling that you'd come tonight." With that she paused and pulled out a black leather bound journal. "I'm sure she'll miss the jacket but I imagine she'll be leaving with you." After a second she grumbled, "Just take it already, before Lady Kate comes out." He stood there, staring at it. It was as though he were eying it. But Lila couldn't tell because of his concealed face. She briefly wondered if the man had pretty blue eyes like Kate had.

"What's in it?" Her tone suggested that Kate would kill her if she caught her handing it over to him.

She smiled with a sly 'find out yourself' grin. "The only thing that bites is its author."

"And its namesake." He muttered reaching out for the journal.

"KIDD STOP!" Kate shouted from her place stuck on the bed. Yui was faring horribly against Kidd, even with whatever his devil fruit power was. It didn't seem to help that he could walk anywhere including the air, or make it appear hard for Kidd to move. Though it seemed that he hadn't caught on to the fact that Kidd was using the metal most likely on his pants and the belt he was wearing. It didn't help that Kidd was toying with the boy. She may have imagined things but she may have heard the cracking of different bones as Kidd attracted and repelled him around the room. Kidd was now held him off the ground by his neck, as he had done to her once before.

"I think Lady Kate is requesting your attention." The blonde boy said as though being held by his throat didn't matter, as if it weren't bothering him at all, which bothered Kidd to no end.

"So it seems." He grumbled turning his attention to the deliciously helpless blonde woman to his right. "What do you want?" Kidd demanded, deciding that he'd humor the both of them.

Finally she had gotten his attention! "Don't kill him Kidd." She begrudgingly muttered.

But Kidd heard her loud and clear. "Why the fuck not?" Why the hell wouldn't she want him to kill the boy? Was she not as pissed as hell at him? Did she not want revenge to be taken? Kidd wondered. And who was she to tell him who he could and couldn't kill?

"Please." Kate sweetly tried. To be honest she doubted that Kidd would listen to or even like her plan, after all not only was he not one to take orders from others, he also wasn't a sentimental person. And her plan was the only reason she couldn't have Killer killing Lila- assuming he was even listening to her- or Kidd killing Yui. IF it weren't for her plan and fondness of Lila she'd have no qualms about killing Yui, though she'd prefer to do it herself. Not watch Kidd do it for her. But if either of them died then her plans for the emperor and Lila would be ruined.

Did the little bitch think that saying the word please in a sweet way would make him obey her, make him want to listen to her more then he would have had she not said the word please? "What's in it for me?" Kidd sneered at her, looking at the boy then back a few times saying "I may or may not kill him depending on your answer."

He smiled at her almost wickedly. But before she could utter even the start of an answer Kidd slammed Yui's body into the floor with a sickening slamming sound. Kate was glad that she couldn't see his body collide with the floor, it sounded bad enough as it was, and she was only hearing it. "I said don't kill him." Kate growled at Kidd as he straightened, still looking down. He was probably toeing the unconscious at the least body that lay at his feet.

He shrugged as he turned his attention towards her. "I didn't kill him." He was still breathing for now. If he died it was because his fucking skull wasn't thick enough. That or he had brain damage too traumatic for the organ. But the bastard should be fine- not that it was any of his concern.

Kate watched the furious redheaded man she had been praying to see, longing to hear and craving to feel strut towards her, walking around to the side of the bed.

"You know it was about time you got here." Kate grumbled at Kidd when he stepped up onto the first of the two steps. She glared at him with narrow eyes wondering if it would have killed him to not have come at the very last minute. That had been far too close for her liking; he had cut everything too close.

"I asked you what I get in return for not killing the damn bastard." He demanded unfazed by her glaring as he came to a stop on the top step. He towered over her, not searching for the keys what she didn't know the location of, or even reaching out to help her get the cuffs off, an easy feat for a man with a power like his.

"A warm fuzzy feeling?" she sarcastically guessed with fake enthusiasm. "Look, just get these things off of me." That's why he was here right? To take her back? Well they couldn't go anywhere if she was still handcuffed to a bed! Kate wildly thrashed around so that she handcuffs were brought to Kidd's attention, as though he hadn't already noticed the silver metal encircling each of Kate's small wrists, holding her to the headboard, rendering her partially immobile on her back atop the furry black covers of the bed.

"Why the hell would I do that?" He asked in a slightly teasing tone. The sight of Kate laying there almost completely helpless and very vulnerable, asking for him to release her from bonds that he hadn't placed on her, was a major turn on for Kidd, even more so then her damn dancing then leaving and that sly fucking 'I know exactly what I'm doing to you' smile.

Kate watched a smile creep onto Kidd's face, slowly across his dark lips. She wanted to read it, to decipher its meaning, to try and figure out why he was even smiling in the first place, let alone aiming the almost sinister looking thing down at her, yet Kate found that she couldn't. It was a dark smile that she had yet to encounter. And with that thought endless possibilities flashed through her mind, some of those things were dirty, and other things were painful.

The bed sagged with his weight as he climbed onto it, throwing a leg over her hips so that he straddled her small body. He watched realization settle across her features and felt her body try and suppress a violent shudder that raked through her.

The feeling of his body weighing down on her, on just her hips and thighs was very arousing to Kate. She was defenseless under his strong powerful body, and they were both acutely aware of this.

Like Yui had, Kidd cupped her cheek. His touch was almost tender as it slipped down her neck, lightly across her bare shoulder and exposed collarbone before coming to a chilling stop at the dip of the neckline of the strapless white dress. His fingers curled around the edge brushing against the skin just between her breast. "Do you like this fucking dress?" He asked her casually, his grip on the dress tightening. He sure as hell didn't like it and it didn't matter if she liked it or not.

"N-not a-at all." Kate breathed out the words only after her voice was found. She was trying to calculate how Kidd would react, what he was going to do next as she grumbled with narrowed eyes. "But you're supposed to be getting these things off of me." She was attempting to subtly tell him to get off of her, to let her up no matter how much she'd rather him not.

The smile only grew as he said "Oh I will, when I'm done with you." With those rather frightening words from Kidd he pulled his arm back.

The sound of ripping fabric tore through the silence of the dark, dimly lit room.

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A/N: I'm sure that I managed to disappoint a lot of people by not writing a fight scene with Yui and Kidd (I'm sorry) but there was good reason for that. One, what fun is having Kidd senselessly beat the life out of Yui? Two, I suck at fight scenes and there's not much to work with in that room with the character and their DF powers. I also wanted to get to a certain point so the chapter is a bit longer than usual

This is half of a warning. . . .The other half will be the beginning of next chapter.

A half a lemon will be making its appearance next chapter. Then a full lemon soon after. If you wish to skip both, please do. I understand not everyone likes lemons. I will loudly announce the beginning of the lemon whenever it wishes to show up and when it is over so you don't miss too much.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	24. Behind Closed Doors

A/N: I know I usually do these after the end of the chapter but the first half of this is the half lemon (lime?) though I'm not marking where it starts/ends. Just a little warning for you guys who would prefer not to read it. Those of you who wish to read it . . . enjoy.

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Kidd felt like a child unwrapping a present, eagerly tearing the paper that concealed his gift. The dress was the delicate paper that had wrapped the gift so beautifully only to be ripped, shredded and forgotten. And Kate was the present in which was slowly being revealed, slowly uncovered.

Cold air hit her exposed flesh, raising goose bumps as more and more of her dress was ripped away by rough and eager hands, nails occasionally sending small almost unnoticeable cracks of welcome- no matter how small- pain spider webbing across her body. Each fistful was tossed away and just as soon forgotten. Each fistful tore more and more fabric away from her body until the dress was reduced to white tatters that covered the two small steps and the floor around them and the bed.

Kidd paused as he took in the nearly naked sight below him. The wide aquamarine eyes, the twisted, aging stitched line that marred otherwise smooth skin laced with small white scars barely visible in the flickering light that failed to cover the entire room in light.

Kate wanted to say something as his hand grazed down the skin of her chest, not stopping to grope her. Down her smooth stomach and down to her outer thighs. The light touched left goose bumps in its wake, sending shivers racing up her spine. But still she couldn't find the words she sought to say to Kidd.

For some unknown reason the words take control of me came to mind and was on her slightly parted lips but those words went no farther than that. Instead the word 'stop' was uttered even though it was the very last thing she wanted him to do.

"Stop?" He repeated back to her in the form of a question, with a slight laugh in his voice. His fingers skimmed the skin between her thighs as he said "I don't think so." With that he leaned forwards, their lips colliding like a meteor into the earth. The weapons to his chest dug painfully into her body. Despite her word, her request for him to stop, her lips parted and he felt her tongue try to work its way into his mouth. But he didn't grant her entrance, just like the stubborn bitch hadn't granted it to him when he had asked.

Anyway they had just gotten started. Why would he stop now?

Her tongue traced his smirk and persistently pressed against his teeth after having gotten past his lips easily enough. But he still didn't let her in. His resistance wasn't the only thing frustrating Kate. So she let out a growl that grumbled low in her throat to tell Kidd so, in case he didn't already know about her frustrations. She was already helpless and all she wanted was the simple pleasure of shoving her tongue down Kidd's throat and the wrestling between their mouths for dominance. The want inside her ached so badly that it almost hurt. She wanted her hands to be exploring his body as his were hers. She wanted to feel his hair knotted between her fingers.

This was not how Kate had imagined being . . . reunited . . . with her captain. The scenes that had endlessly played themselves out in her mind's eye had been so much more violent and painful, nowhere near as . . . pleasant. There had been no gentle caresses- what an abstract idea with Kidd! There had been no handcuffs and no dress demolition either. But instead her screaming and yelling curses at him- oh so many things she would get off of her chest once they were face to face again. She may or may not have kicked him where the sun doesn't shine in one of the scenes. He may or may not have had a very violent reaction before they finished their little spat.

But life never goes as planned or imagined.

Ever.

Kidd could feel the hunger in the kiss, he could almost taste the need as she trained to keep their lips together as he pulled away, skimming his lips across her cheek to her ear as he pushed her underwear aside but doing nothing more. And in her ear he hissed "You like being tied up don't you?" The question was more or less rhetorical. Because of how wet she was he didn't need an answer from Kate. "You dirty fucking whore." Kidd enjoyed the way her breath hitched, the sharp little inhales and exhales of air, how he could feel the rapid shallow rising and falling of her still clothed breast. He loved that she was reacting so strongly and he hadn't even done anything to her yet.

Kidd's hot breath was scorching her ear, his voice low and his teeth so painfully close to her sensitive ear. He was so close, yet he wasn't biting her. It didn't help that his words carried a promise, one that Kate prayed that he'd keep.

As he said those profane words he stopped mercilessly teasing Kate and shoved to fingers none too gently into her. A satisfying half moan, half screech and the gasped word 'finally' reached his ears.

His fingernails scraped against the entrance, sending stabs of long awaited pain through her body each time he pulled out or pushed his fingers into her. For a few minutes she lay there not protesting, not fighting like she would have had Yui decided to do something like this to her. She wouldn't mind being restrained by Kidd. But he hadn't been the one to do so; he hadn't had the fun of grabbing her wrists and holding them still above her head as he tightened the metal around them, to the headboard, keeping her from moving from under him.

The small spikes of momentary pain brought jolts of clarity, reminding her that she was still on the marriage bed Yui was supposed to have his way with her for the first time on, that she was still handcuffed, Yui was still unconscious- or quite possibly dead- somewhere at the foot of the bed and they could be interrupted at any given second by people who meant to harm and or kill them, or hell worse case scenario the crew and Killer could walk in, so she began protesting, struggling, trying to make him stop. "Not here." She begged. Kate wouldn't be begging for him to stop had they been in the clear, sailing away from this wretched place. Hell she'd probably be encouraging him. She had gone four painfully long weeks without his touch, his pain, and she wanted more of it. His pain, his touch his curses all of it, she wanted it all so badly. But not here, not in this bed, nor in this building.

Kate's voice reached his ears but her objecting words failed to register in Kidd's mind as his thumb found her clitoris and he began rubbing the little stub. Kill loved the way tears glistened at the corners of her eyes in the dim light of the dark room, he loved the way she tightened around his two fingers and most of all he loved the small noises that she had absolutely no control of as she kept repeating words that were lost to him.

Kate became almost desperate as the pumping motion paused and his fingers curled up inside of her, easily, no effortlessly finding her g-spot and messaging it as well. He added it to the mix or pain and extreme pleasure.

The rubbing on her clit wasn't near as slow or gentle as it had started as- not that it was gentle or soft as it had started. The familiar warm tension was building up, slowly higher and if Kidd didn't stop soon she was going to reach her first orgasm with Kidd. The feeling of him steadily thrusting his fingers into her with the rather rough clitoris stimulation along with the occasional pauses that he took to stroke her g-spot was all too intense, almost uncomfortable even.

Kate could hardly form thoughts, let alone coherent words around the long drawn out sounds she had no control over. No matter how hard she bit her bottom lip, or her tongue, or how hard she clenched her jaw, no matter how hard she tried to focus on anything other than the immense amount of pleasure she was getting from all of this, the small whimpers and gasps and even some groans continued to escape her mouth. "K-kidd." She managed to half gasp, mostly moan, drawing out the single vowel of his name. "Th-this. . .this i-is rape." God she was getting desperate as she squirmed under him. If he didn't finally start listening to her in less than a few minutes- really pushing it- she wasn't going to be able to hold it back.

Finally something in the pea-sized brain of his seemed to click behind his red eyes as he paused, looking her in the eye. For the first time his lips pressed softly against hers before slowly moving up to the outer corner of her eye, where the salty tears of frustration and possibly other emotions stained his lips. They moved again, not stopping until they hovered just above her ear. After a seconds pause he uttered the words in a grumbled whisper "I'm far from done with you sweetheart." With that he kissed her ear and withdrew his fingers from between her legs.

Kate let out a breath of relief as he reached above her and just like he had done to the dress, completely destroyed handcuffs that had not only been a small part of her frustrations but had also skinned her wrists raw- though she might be to blame for some of it. Kidd got up, descended the small steps, paying absolutely no mind to the shreds and clumps of the white fabric that was impossible to avoid stepping on. Kate sat up, rubbing the tender flesh of her almost bleeding wrists. She swung her legs to the side of the bed, noticing how the door had been kicked down. She wondered when that had happened as she slid off the bed and onto her feet.

Kate took a testing step forwards. Her knees were wobbly and he legs shaky. That combined with the lack of memory of the steps, Kate tumbled forwards. Reaching out she grabbed ahold of Kidd's strong muscular arm, halting her descent onto the floor.

He looked down at her surprised and now fully awake face before reaching back and grabbing his jacket, the one he had discarded at the foot of the bed to torment Kate as he took care of the little bastard, and draped it over her small shoulders with a sigh. When the worn fabric touched the skin of her bare shoulders she looked up at him with surprise that made him almost regret giving it to her. She let go of his arm, one at a time to slip her arms through the sleeves, not stopping their walk towards the door less doorway.

She didn't look up at Kidd after the shock wore off, just focused on trying not to be so shaky as she walked. But had Kate looked up she would have seen Kidd smirking at her as she regained her ability to walk steadily.

He knew why she was so unsteady and again Kidd almost regretted having stopped before Kate had reached her first orgasm of the night. Because whether Kate knew it or not there were more to be had. Kidd couldn't wait to hear her screams, see her face twisted in pain, screaming until she could literally scream no more. He looked forwards to leaving all kinds of marks on all parts of her body. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

"Yes, lets." Kate agreed. She wanted to get out of here and never look back. She looked up at Kidd with a smile, softly hugging his arm tighter. "Thank you." She whispered so quietly that Kidd was unsure if he had imagined the faint words of if they had actually left her mouth.

Kate was well aware of the fact that Kidd didn't have to come back. That he didn't have to turn the ship around or bring Killer and crew in tow. That he didn't have to come to her rescue, after all he wasn't a rescuing maidens kind of guy, save her sorry ass. God she couldn't even handcuff a boy to a bed properly.

Both Killer and Lila had to do a double take when Kate and Kidd emerged the small blonde was clinging to the strong pirate captain, his jacket trailing on the floor behind them. Neither of the two were yelling or exchanging verbal or physical blows.

The maroon haired girl leaned over to the masked man and whispered, "Is that the same man that entered the room?" She wasn't too sure if he was or wasn't, even if he looked the same. He hadn't appeared to be the cuddly type. But with Kate on his arm like that, it seemed to soften his appearance.

"If I were you I'd go make sure Mr. Yui is still living in there. Try waking him with a kiss- oh! And keep me posted on your progress." Kate smiled, well aware that Yui could decide to get a 30th wife and keep doing the same thing over and over, making the same mistake even with Lila in front of him. But she was hoping that he'd see the light. With that the pirate trip left wordlessly down the hall.

Once Lila was sure that they were gone, she dashed quickly in the room, dropping to her knees next to Master Yui, who was lying in a crater created by his body; the floor cracked and would need to be replaced. Upon slipping her arms under his neck and his knees, his brown eyes fluttered opened and as she lifted him muttered "Lila?"

"Shush Master, you'll be fine." She whispered to him in a soothing tone. She didn't want him moving or exerting his mind or body too much.

"No. I've got to say this." Even though there was a great amount of pain coming from just about every part of his body, he had to say this much before he allowed the dark to take him.

"Later." She tried, walking out of the room. Later was when she was going to have to tell him about the damage the pirates that caused- once she had learned the extent of it.

"No more pirates. Remind me of-" he began only to be interrupted.

"I could have told you that." She laughed quietly at him. It seems that he had learned his lesson; of course it was only through experience that he had gained the wisdom. Kate hadn't wanted to be here since day one. She shook her head, until she saw his slightly narrowed eyes aimed at her. "What? You're injured. Just shut up and tell me whatever you need to when you're patched up."

"I wasn't done." He paused before continuing. "Just let me say this. Thirty times the charm." With that he complied to her wishes and shut up, surrendering to unconscious, a smile on his lips.

"I'm sure it will be." Lila said, not understanding his meaning. Which was fine, she would soon find out and understand his words and he couldn't wait to watch her reaction; as a matter of fact he couldn't wait to watch the reactions of everyone else.

"I'm glad you're ok." Killer said as they walked out into the open air after smashing a hole into the wall lined with large arched windows when they couldn't find the front doors. Of course Kate had been the one in the lead the two men, still clinging to Kidd's arm.

"Yeah me too." Killer found it surprising that Kidd hadn't shaken Kate off of his arm yet. There was a pause of silence as they walked towards the out of place, doomsday looking ship, the one that in Kate's opinion looked thirty million times more inviting then the castle any day. "I love you oniichan." Kate would have given him a hug had she not enjoyed Kidd not being rough or annoyed or irritated with her for the first time in ever. To be honest she figured he'd get annoyed and shake her off a long time ago.

"Did you doubt me?" Killer asked her.

"To be honest, I was really beginning to doubt you." She confirmed his suspicions.

"Sorry." Much like the word please was an unheard word by the Massacre soldier, sorry was even more uncommon.

"You had better be." She grumbled under her breath.

Killer looked back at his sister, wondering why he should be so sorry, only to watch her expression transform from upset and slightly cross to happy, smiling brightly and waving like crazy. Turning forwards, after taking in Kidd's annoyed look, he saw the gangplank being lowered and the crew waiting for them. None of them waved back as enthusiastically as Kate was waving smiling and waving at them, not that they were even smiling or waving at the blonde girl at all.

Kate let go of Kidd only to race up the gangplank, past Killer with a squeal. Her small body collided happily with Wire's and then Heat's then she flitted like a hummingbird to the rest of the Kidd pirates in who she had missed so much. All before Kidd and Killer had managed to board the ship. Upon Kidd setting two feet on his deck, Kate's small body barreled into his, her arms wrapping around him the words thank you being said for the millionth time. She was anything but prepared to be picked up, to be whisked away below deck.

Seeing how Kidd wasn't going to give orders, Killer took over.

Kate didn't even know what room they were in, whose room they were in, whose wall she was being shoved roughly against, whose door had just been slammed shut as nothing more than an afterthought.

Kidd reached for, to rip it off of her small body, to remove one of the obstacles in his way. Only for her to duck under one of his arms with an offended sounding gasp as she turned towards him, wrapping her arms around herself, the sleeves flopping past her fingertips. "Don't rip the jacket!"

Kidd growled at her, reaching for her saying "I have more." Really, this was why she was pulling away from him? Kidd supposed that he shouldn't be surprised, but he had every right to be annoyed.

"Well that's a relief for you. But are you going to give me another one if you ruin this one?" she rolled her eyes at Kidd, he didn't understand, dancing just out of his reach, his fingertips brushing against her arm, but not catching her.

"No." She wasn't fucking getting one of his jackets.

"See, then you can't tear it to shreds like you did the dress. I love this jacket, and to be honest, I loved what you did to that dress." Kate had to admit she loved the way Kidd had torn the fabric away from her vulnerable body, as if he had been eager to get to what it had been concealing. The thought thrilled her. But when she saw the annoyed look he was giving her Kate sighed, giving in and then slipping the jacket off, leaving it on the floor as she stepped towards, reaching up and bringing his face down to hers before pulling back only enough to whisper in a teasing voice "No need to be so impatient." The only response she got was a grunt as he pushed their mouths back together, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her closer than before, no longer concerned about the spikes that adorned the front of this jacket.

The pistol and the sheathed dagger that was strapped to his hard chest dug into the soft skin of her body, making the close contact uncomfortable, and it was distracting her from all of the other contact they had. Kate ran her hands slowly up his chest despite the urgency to remove the cause of her displeasure. She slid her hands blindly up the strap, searching blindly for the buckle. When her fingers brushed against it, just like with the handcuffs, they fumbled, struggling to unbuckle it. But unlike with the handcuffs, she managed to unbuckle it and pull it off of him as she pulled away mid fight for dominance between their mouths and whispered, "You don't need these." With that Kidd wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. In response she mindlessly wrapped her legs around his waist. She could feel his laughter as he laughed at the screech of surprise she had let loose.

By time the weapons dropped to the floor, Kate was already on her back, Kidd's body yet again atop of hers.

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A/N: This was my first stab at anything compared to that. I hope you guys liked it. I tried my best to keep them in character and everything. So I hope that over all it wasn't too cringe worthy. Please tell me how well/bad I did (if you tell me how bad I did then tell me how to fix whatever for future attempts) I feel kind of mean for doing this to you twice.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	25. Acting On Impulse

A/N: I know I usually do these after the end of the chapter but this whole chapter is a lemon. So this is just a little warning for you guys who would prefer not to read it. Those of you who wish to read it . . . enjoy. The next chapter will be out soon though I promise.

I hope this doesn't disappoint. I didn't know how long or detailed it was supposed to be.

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"Is this location more ideal for you?" Kidd sneered as he fell on top of the small girl, the bed protesting their suddenly added weight. The words Kate had blurted out during their encounter in the steamy hot bathroom surfacing in his mind as he smirked in triumph down at Kate.

At first his words confused her, but then it made since, it clicked. "That's right, I did say no shower sex and that I wouldn't let you take me in your bed didn't i?" Kate quietly mused aloud running her hands slowly back through his gorgeous thick locks, her fingers occasionally catching and yanking hard on knots and tangles. She savored the feeling of freedom, of unrestricted movement. Kate relished the feeling of her hands having the freedom to move, to explore every last inch of his body as thoroughly as he was doing hers.

"I'll just have to convince you otherwise." His hot breath seared her ear as his hand wrapped around the strapless bra. And as he had done to the dress, tore it off of her soft warm body, discarding and forgetting it.

The body on top of her, weight pressing her down into the mattress was quickly becoming a familiar feeling, one that Kate didn't mind growing accustomed to. "Hmm, maybe you will." She whispered into the air. There was a second's pause, where all there was, was sensations and thought. The light squeeze of her now bare breast, the pinch of the nipple, scratching of nails against pale flesh, skin against skin, and subtle grinding before she whispered his name in the form of a question. And when he hummed at her to show that he had in fact heard her and was waiting for her to continue she did. "If I told you not to bite my ear would you do it just to spite me?" That's how Kidd's mind worked right? Tell him not to do something and he'd do it, that's just how he was . . . right?

In response to her question Kate felt his lips move from her jaw and to the shell of her ear. She felt them part with a shudder before his teeth sunk into the thin flimsy cartilage, sending sharp pain signals to her brain.

Those glorious pain signals were far more than welcome. After four weeks where the most painful things were dress fittings and spending time with Yui, this was pure bliss. So blissful that a small groan escaped her lips.

The harder he bit down the more of a reaction he got out of Kate. The harder her bit the louder the sounds were, the harder she pulled his hair or pushed her nails into his skin or ground against him, the more satisfying it was to bit her.

Kidd must know what he was doing to her, after all he was teasing her with his hands, his mouth, everything! Each bite turned her on more and more as if she weren't already fully aroused already. As if pinching, biting, squeezing and kissing weren't enough, he just had to tease her while he was at it. Kate almost wished that they'd skip the play and that he'd take off his god awful pants and stop playing with her already.

"You like that don't you?" Kidd hissed into her ear as she pushed her hips up against his. He was hard and she was ready, but he wasn't going to satisfy her yet, now when the damn bitch was so fucking fun to tease, to excite.

"Very much so." She groaned.

After a particularly hard bite his mouth slipped away from her pleasantly throbbing ear and down to her lips. They only brushed against hers before landing on her cheek then the tip of her nose, her cheekbone, forehead, jaw, temple and even the lobe of her neglected ear, anywhere but where she wanted to them to land, anywhere but her lips!

All she wanted to strong redheaded man who she had sworn to that she'd never do this with, on top of her to rip off her remaining clothing- which wasn't much; just her panties- slip out of his wretched pants and make her lose her voice. But noooo, he just have to have his fun, he had to tease her.

Kidd was counting each kiss that failed to land on her awaiting mouth. He could feel her getting irritated and impatient beneath him as he wondered how much longer she'd last before she got fed up with him not kissing her and grabbed his head and forced their mouths together.

After one of the butterfly kisses landed on the corner of her mouth she turned her face towards him, realizing what he was doing to her, what he wanted. HE was taunting and toying with her, ruthlessly teasing her for his own pleasure. "Stop being so mean to me." She pouted in a whiney voice that carried her displeasure in it as she slid her hands up his well sculpted chest, over his broad well-built shoulders and up into his hair, just behind his ears where his long gone, somewhere on the floor, goggles usually rested. There she clenched her hands into tight fists and yanked him down to her, putting an end to his game, momentarily pausing his cruel and totally unfair teasing. When their mouths collided, Kate could once again feel his smirk against her lips.

It had only taken thirteen fucking failures to drive Kate crazy, to push her over the edge. After a few seconds he shoved her slowly exploring his mouth tongue back into her own mouth before pulling away enough to look down and see her irritated expression before saying, "Not any fuckin' time soon." If the bitch wanted TLC then she had returned to the wrong ship with the wrong people. Kidd thought as her hands traveled back down his neck, shoulders chest and torso, stopping at the waistline of his pants, her fingers curling around it so that her cold fingers brushed against his skin.

With a smile he gathered her too eager hands in one of his as he began to kiss suck and bite her way along her jawline, down her tender warm neck and then slowly down her small body, her hands trying to get away from him, to tug out of his grasp. He liked that not every sound she made, every noise that escaped her mouth was super sexy and arousing. Hell some of them he found amusing if not satisfying. There were some yelps, squeaks and slight whimpers, even a few hisses and 'ow's' could be heard. A few times her body tensed when she felt his teeth graze the skin of a particular area of her body, she even shifted away from him and even tried pushing herself further into the mattress. But despite all of that not once was the word stop uttered, she wasn't telling him to wait for anything or telling him that she wasn't fucking ready, because even if she did, he wouldn't listen to her, not at this point.

Only when light pushes against his shoulders registered did he pause, propping himself up on his elbows from just above her waist, so that he could see her face, so that he could glare at her for interrupting him.

"Why do you always get to be on top?" She pouted, a frown pulling down the corners of her mouth. "It's not fair that I get all the pleasure, and am always on the receiving end." She muttered the last part, mostly referring to the teasing part of the receiving end.

Kidd shifted his weight onto one elbow and with one hand grabbed ahold of the white lacy underwear before sliding it down her smooth legs, ignoring her question as he bowed his head and kissed just below her stomach.

Kate watched him slowly lower his head to plant a gentle kiss on her skin, raising goose bumps as he did so. "K-kidd." She gasped out his name, squirming beneath him as she nervously licked her lips. "Please d-don't." she weakly managed in a voice just barely above a whisper. After what had happened at the castle with just his fingers, Kate was almost scared to have his mouth down there.

At the sound of her frightened voice Kidd lifted his head once more, but one glance at her face, into her wide eyes and he could see the fear that was so plainly audible in her voice was only what had managed to leak out.

After a few seconds of staring him in his crimson eyes she slowly nodded her answer. She watched his expression soften just a little bit as he said, "Don't be."

"But Kidd." She protested. Don't be scared?! Was he expecting her to trust him that much? He was telling her not to be scared with a man like him, such a rough, ruthless man like him!

Digging his nails into her outer thighs he growled, "I said don't be fucking scared." His eyes narrowed at her, voice hardening as well. And after one more fleeting glance into her aquamarine eyes he kissed the inside of her thigh, only to hear a whimper above him. After a few minutes she'd be fucking thanking him. Kidd thought, slipping his hands down her legs stopping just above the knees, holding them slightly apart and down, should Kate get the 'bright' idea to start flailing and kicking.

Just like in the castle he paid attention to her clit, but he didn't touch it as he kissed and licked around it and all around her thighs and even teased her a bit, flicking his tongue down the wet slit but going no farther than that. So far this wasn't too bad, quite delightful in fact. But that didn't stop her from nervously awaiting the pain that she was sure was to come.

After several more kisses and a few light bites, Kidd positioned his mouth atop her lips before spreading them with his tongue and kissing the wet opening and slowly- for Kate's benefit- down into her. He twisted his tongue inside her before slowly pulling out. As he did so a quite moan above him encouraged him to go harder faster, to swirl his tongue inside of her. The quiet, reluctant moans becoming louder, the louder they became the faster he moved his tongue in and out of her.

Slowly, just in case she thought now was a good time to start flailing her legs like she did her arms when she waved enthusiastically at people, he slid his hand up one of her legs and began rubbing her clit until it was hard and fully aroused. Removing his tongue from Kate Kidd began sucking softly on the sensitive stub while slipping one finger inside of her for extra pleasure.

He sucked harder and harder, occasionally using his tongue until she was screaming, her hips bucking up into him as her hands crept into his hair before balling her hands into his hair, knotting her fingers in it.

Kate couldn't help but scream out into the quiet for the most part room, unable to believe that she had been begging for Kidd not to do this to her, that she had been scared of the pain he might have caused her. Oh, she had had it all wrong. Kate should have been afraid of how good it felt, how much pleasure she'd get out of the act.

It wasn't that Kate had never had an orgasm before, because she had. It was just that she had never had one of this magnitude. Her head was thrown back, back arched involuntarily, toes curled and fists clenched once more in Kidd's red hair. A scream and the words 'I love you' filled their ears, reverberated through the air of the room. Her whole body was trembling as waves and waves of heat rushed out of her. Even when it was over it left her body feeling both numb and tingly. She felt great- no great was an understatement, she couldn't think of a word that went beyond just scratching the surface of how good she felt.

After another minute or so of him slowly licking her, Kidd once again began sucking, kissing and biting her body, only the difference this time was that he was traveling up her body, working his way to her face. His touch had felt good before, but now it somehow seemed even better. He paused at her breast and began nipping and sucking on one while he pulled his single finger out of her and began pinching, squeezing and playing with the other. Soon he switched, not neglecting the other breast, as he had done her poor ear. Lifting his head Kidd roughly kissed her mouth, skipping her blotched and in a few places bleeding, neck and ears.

Pulling away from her eager mouth he couldn't help but whisper into her ear, "Still think it's unfair?"

Instantly she realized that he was returning to the being on top comment she had made, Kate frowned and said "Yes." And with that Kidd flipped them so that she was now sitting on top of him. "Thanks for the change of perspective," She smiled sweetly down at him before adding the word 'but' and trailing off as she did so her small, tightly clenched fist connected with his jaw and her eyes narrowed before she continued, "Next time I tell you I'm scared- I don't care how good you know it's going to make me feel- don't fucking do it! God if I didn't enjoy that so much," A blush crept onto her cheeks as her sentence faltered a little. ",I'd beat you, or hell just kick you where it hurts and walk out."

"But you liked it." He sneered at her, one of the hands resting on her waist moved to rub at his jaw. Killer was to blame to her good punches.

Kate released a heavy sigh. He was impossible. Leaning down she was going to kiss his lips but decided this was going to be a bit of pay back and instead at the very last minute to kiss his cheek, an innocent peck with the words 'I did'. What she really wanted to do was to find the places where Kidd was sensitive, the spots that made him grunt or groan, curse or gasp with pleasure, pleasure that she had initiated. The idea of filling Kidd with as much bliss as he had filled her with thrilled Kate to no end.

So she nipped softly at his ear, all around the outer shell, but when mimicking the sensations she loved so much, the mix of hard and soft bites to her ear failed, she kissed back to his mouth and stayed there for a second, moving away to his jaw just as his tongue pushed into her mouth. Just like he had done to her body, she kissed, sucked and bit down his. Starting at his muscular neck, but when none of that yielded any responses, no moans or groans, no nothing. So she moved lower, across his strong shoulders and chest, and down his torso, but not a single noise escaped his lips to let her know that she had found where he was sensitive, to tell her that he liked what she was doing to him.

Kate kissed all the way down to the line of his pants, where she paused smirking against him. Well if this didn't work, didn't make him respond, then she was just going to quit right then and there and relinquish her momentary dominance over Kidd.

She licked and sucked the skin along the waistline, teasing him as she rubbed her hand against him. She smiled when he hissed the words 'fucking bitch' at her. Deciding that if she didn't hurry up and to do something more than tease him back he'd probably kill her. So slowly- for the hell of it, because she could- Kate grabbed his pants and pulled them down, taking the boxers along with those god awful pants. Finally those wretched things were gone, out of sight and most importantly out of her way. Because of its lack of importance and distaste, Kate didn't notice the absence of the blue sash that usually adorned Kidd's waist. And just like he had casually done to her, she decided to tease him, to pay him back for everything he had done to her, every second he had taken to mercilessly tease her. And she'd enjoy doing so. Oh how she'd enjoy teasing Kidd.

She planted one kiss at the base, looking up at Kidd as she did so, before leaving butterfly kisses on his inner thighs, the hard shaft and even his balls, but finally after a few minutes she came to a soft stop at the tip. As she parted her lips around it she finally received a rewarding groan as her tongue flicked across it.

He watched her lips wrap around the head of his dick, slowly making it disappear somewhat hesitantly into her mouth. Maybe she didn't know what it looked like from his point of view, but she looked fucking sexy, no matter how cautious she was being, it didn't change how damn sexy her small naked form between his legs was.

Kidd found it rather amusing that Kate wanted to be on top, on not only the receiving end of the pleasure but at the giving end of it as well. Her short blonde hair was longer then he remembered it being, it was no longer neatly brushed out but instead tousled and messy, just like usual. Red blotches and marks were budding all over her body, mostly on her neck and chest, but even her ear was already showing evidence of their activities.

Kidd couldn't hold back a long throaty groan as her tentative tongue found the tip at the top of the head. That was fucking it. Kidd thought reaching up and burying his fists deep in her hair before shoving her head down. When he did so he could not only hear the erotic sound of Kate gagging but could also feel the brief tightening of the back of her throat around him and the feel of her small hands wrapping around the base of his dick. He didn't hold her there- where would the fun in making her vomit be? - But at the same time he didn't let her go.

One minute she was the queen of the world, high mighty, dominate, on top and in control- that control had been such a nice but fleeting feeling-, while she had hopefully driving Kidd up several walls of insanity. But then all of the sudden, in a moment of headache inducing pain and her mouth was full of something warm and fleshy. At that point being on top no longer meant that she was the dominant one, it no longer meant that she was in control. However Kidd had made the grave mistake of having shoved the most sensitive part of any man into her mouth. She wouldn't have to bite down that hard, or dig her nails into his flesh that hard to get the message that she wasn't too happy with him across.

He rammed against the back of her throat for the second time, forcing her head to slide up and down his now saliva coated shaft. When he did that the threatening to spill over tears in her eyes overflowed, rolling slowly down her cheeks. She may not mind Kidd being in control or hurting her in small ways that she found rather enjoyable, but Kate really disliked crying and this was no fun, so she bit down. He didn't stop or slow the forceful movement of her head, only let out a sound of pain and pleasure tightly intertwined together, as his dark nails scraped against her scalp and his already tight grip tightened, and for a few minutes after he didn't lose rhythm, kept shoving her head down and pulling it back up by her hair.

Shoving her head down farther then he had done before Kate began gagging louder than usual. But then with a loud curse from Kidd, and him not letting her up, hot sticky liquid filled the back of her throat and her mouth. Instinctively she tried swallowing, to clear her throat, her airways, but soon she began choking. Finally his hands released their grip on her, slipping from her hair and allowing Kate to jerk up, gasping for air.

After coughing for a few minutes, and fighting to get her breath back Kate swiped the back of her hand across her mouth and chin with narrowed eyes. "Kidd." She slowly said with a warning in her voice. "I didn't like that." If he didn't it again she'd bite off his testicles.

"I fucking did." He said with a smile. "Now get up here." As he said the last sentence he reached out, wrapped his hand around her thin upper arm and pulling her small body up from between his legs.

She was jerked from her knees to lying on top of Kidd's strong chest. The moment she came to a stop he grabbed the back of her head and once again crushed their lips together, instantly biting her lips, his nails grating slowly down her back. They exchanged another steamy, hot and . . . dare she say it. . .passionate, kiss.

Pulling away Kate couldn't help but chuckle and with a teasing smile say, "I was going to clean you up."

"I thought you were mad at me." Kidd sneered at her.

"No. Irked but not mad." She answered resting her forehead against his gently stroking his pale face. For some reason the way the light reflected in his red eyes made her realize that the lights were still on, which was really weird because her and Jay-Jay almost never had sex with the lights on- never took the time to turn them on. Yeah they had had sex many places but they had it by daylight, moonlight or candlelight. "Why are the lights still on?" Kate couldn't help but inquire as the realization struck her, even at a time like this she couldn't hold her tongue.

Because." Kidd began, only to wrap his arms around her, pressing her naked body closer to his before flipping them over so that he was once again on top of her. And just like she had stroked his face with her small and delicate hands, Kidd stroked her face, lightly tracing her bottom lip with is thumb, staring down at her silently for a minute, leaving his answer hanging for an entire painful minute before deciding to finish the fragment of an answer. "I want to see you, every expression you make, every way your body twists, every mark I leave on your skin, I want to see it all." The way her soft, usually smiling face would contort when he penetrated her deeply, the way the scream would twist her face, the pain in her eyes before they closed, before it would start feeling good, the way her shoulders would press down and her back arch into him, the way she'd beg for more, Kidd didn't want to miss a second of it.

"You know that's sortta romantic. I didn't know you had it in you." Kate seriously doubted that there was supposed to be any romantic meaning behind his words, behind that eager glint in his eyes. With a small smile, Kate kissed Kidd's lips gently. It was simply the pressing together of two mouths, there was no tongue, no biting, no asking for- or demanding, or forcing- entrance and there were no fights for dominance.

Without any farther words Kidd gathered Kate's hand in one hand and with the other blindly searched for the blue sash he had been waiting to use on Kate, since the little bitch liked to be restrained, liked to be tied up. Once his fingers found it he took his time tightly fasten it around her wrists above her head. When he was satisfied that it was tight enough, that they wouldn't slip, that Kate wouldn't undo them he very slowly began teasing her, slowly pushing into her, but not all the way, then pulling out just as slowly. Somehow Kidd found that he still had the patience to tease her, to drive her crazy while he still had the chance.

"Kidd." Kate groaned her voice slightly irritable as she stretched out his name, digging her nails into the skin of his upper arms.

With a smile, as if he had been waiting for and unknown to her, signal he surged forwards, his hips slamming against hers. Kidd paused briefly, enjoying the whimpers escaping Kate's mouth as she adjusted to him.

Oh god, she hadn't expected him to fill her so perfectly, as if he belonged there, shoved roughly between her legs.

Kate's small whimpers became loud moans when Kidd's teeth sinking into her neck was added to the rhythmic strokes. Each time they sunk into a different spot, occasionally breaking skin, the ironically metallic tasting liquid staining his lips and settling over his taste buds, mixing with the still linger taste of Kate's sweet cum. He didn't fail to neglect her over sensitive ears as she arched her back onto his body, allowing him to rake his nails down what he could reach of her back, her sides and even her arms.

Kate had never remembered sex being so good. . .so. . .delicious and pleasantly painful. Somehow all of the good sex her and Jay-Jay had seemed to pale to this single time with Kidd. Kate almost wanted to laugh as she wondered if he had been doing things wrong or something.

Steadily his speed got faster, the strokes deeper and harder, invoking louder noises to reluctantly come from Kate's mouth, making Kidd smirk at her. Kidd liked the control over the amount of pain or pleasure the Kate did or didn't receive, and he loved the way she took all it even more.

Kate liked how Kidd wasn't pinning her arms above her head with one of his arms; occupying one, meaning that he only had one free hand. She liked that they weren't bound or handcuffed to a headboard or bar at the head of the bed, she liked that her wrists were just bound tightly together. She lifted her arms up and looped them over Kidd's head so that they rested comfortably around his neck, capturing him in a half hug type of embrace, pulling him closer then he already was to her.

Tiring of scratching and just biting Kidd slowly reached one hand up her body until he could feel the vibrations of her moans against his palm, fingers curling around her neck before applying pressure. It wasn't until her slit like that of a pleased cat eyes went wide and she was roughly tugging on his hair with one hand and clawing at his hand with the other, nailed scraping fruitlessly, not loosening his grip on her throat at all. Into her ear his hissed, "Scream my name." He knew that she'd refuse at first so he applied more pressure, cutting off more of her air supplies, before growling, "Scram it."

She didn't do anything for a few minutes of almost silence, but then a smile formed on her lips and she managed to gasp the words, "Make me."

Kidd nuzzled into the crook of her neck, thinking that that response was just like her. She could feel the chuckle move through his chest then being exhaled in small bursts onto her neck.

It's not that Kate didn't want to scream Kidd's name, to obey him, to hear his name echoing around them, bringing Kidd satisfaction, but it was just it was a pride thing. She wouldn't mind her voice becoming hoarse, or losing it, but he had to work for it, for the satisfaction, the ego/pride boost, for her to obey his sharp command. Kate wasn't going to scream just because he wanted her to, after all when had she ever done what he wanted without a little persuasion or force?

Kidd ducked his head so that her arms slipped from around his neck before he frowned down at her and growled menacingly, "You fucking asked for it you little whore."

The journal that Killer had taken from Lila was burning a hole in his back pocket, so after they began sailing away from the island for a second time, this time with Kate, and after making sure that no one was perusing them, Killer headed to his room so that he could read it, see the other half of Kate's absence, the half that he had missed, to see what she had written about in the weeks that she had been gone.

It wasn't that Killer was complaining-because he wasn't, not in the lease- but it was quiet on the ship.

Almost too quiet.

To be honest Killer had expected the questions, the screaming, shouting, cursing and giggling, the fighting, punching flipping and injuring to start the moment Kate's bare feet and Kidd's heavy boots touched the deck of the ship. But it hadn't played out like he thought it would.

But as long as Kate was safe, as long as they weren't about to engage in battle, as long as Kate was no longer anyone's bride, Killer didn't mind the peace. When he came to the closed door of his room he stopped. He didn't know what made him hesitate, what made him pause, his hand only centimeters from t doorknob, but he did. For a second he stood there wondering why he was pausing before giving his head a firm shake, figuring that it was nothing as he pushed the door open and took a step in. Only to have the sight before him make him stop short.

Unlike the last time this had happened he knew that he was seeing correctly. It perfectly explained the silence, the lack of violence and noise on the deck. But that didn't mean that he wasn't in shock; even though he should have seen this coming. It didn't mean that he was somehow unable to turn his attention away as he watched his nude captain flips his naked sister onto her stomach.

With the realization that the blue sash that usually adorned Kidd's waist was no tightly fastening his sisters' wrists together, came the release of whatever had been holding him rooted to the spot. Quickly he took a step back out of his room, quickly but quietly closing the door, blocking them from sight.

Shaking his head Killer futilely tried to dislodge the images, the scene he had intruded upon from replaying itself in his mind. He was going to have to change the sheets and the pillowcases. Killer thought as he headed back towards the deck. He was also going to have to flip the mattress- or maybe he should just burn in and get a new one. Maybe he should- a scream of pain with spikes of pleasure embedded within it pierced through the air, reaching him before he could make it out onto the deck.

Killer couldn't help but flinch as he picked up his already hurried pace. Yes, tomorrow he would definitely remind the . . . couple?! . . . that the walls of the ship were quite thin. Stepping back onto the deck Killer headed for Kidd's 'office'. Surely he wouldn't mind, after all him and Kate were using far more than just his room. He sat down in the chair behind the deck before opening the journal, hoping to get so engrossed in its pages and Kate's scrawled writing that he'd forget about the scene he had accidentally witnessed.

Grunting Kidd pushed all the way inside of her tight ass with a satisfying scream coming from Kate. He had a tight hold of her hips, nails digging into the skin, breaking the first few layers of skin and leaving small crescent shaped impressions.

"Scream it." He demanded sharply, one of his hands sliding up he arched into the mattress back and coming to a rest at the base of her neck, fingers wrapping around it once again.

"I said make me." Kate grumbled, trying to relax, turning her head so that her voice wasn't muffled by the bed. Again he had to work to get his way, just like always.

After a particularly hard thrust of his hips Kidd got exactly what he wanted. He could feel the vibrations against his fingertips, his name long and drawn out, filling their ears and the air of the room even though she had pressed her face into the mattress to stifle the scream of pain. It was painful and Kate knew it was because she wasn't relaxed, but it wasn't as though Kidd had given her the time to do so.

Upon noticing that her face was buried into the mattress The hand around her neck slid up her neck and into her short hair before clenching his hand into a tight fist and jerking up, grumbling a short stream of profanity at her.

After her scream and his name died in the air around them he went as deep as he could and released wave after wave of how cum inside of her, pushing her over the edge and bringing Kate to another orgasm as he repeatedly slammed her head down onto the mattress.

When he pulled out Kate rolled over with an amusing amount of trouble before she put her arms around his neck once again, pulling herself up so that she could whisper "Happy?" just before she kissed the sexy and satisfied smile on his dark lips. As their tongue pushed against each other's, trying to get into the other's mouth, the taste of iron seeped into her mouth. Kidd wound up winning that battle. Kate found that she didn't even mind that it was her blood that she tasted.

Kidd rolled over onto his side, off of Kate's small, sticky and slick with perspiration and other things, body and onto the bed next to her. But even then he didn't let go of her. "Welcome back." Kidd whispered taking in all the bleeding, red and raw parts of her body. There was no way in hell that she was going to forget this for a good long time.

"Best welcome back ever." Kate whispered back to the redheaded brute lying next to her as she snuggled into him, his warmth, allowing her tired eyes to slip shut as his arms tightened around her and the almost inaudible words, "I love you." left her lips, just barely reaching Kidd's ears.

However when they did he scoffed at the three words. I, Love and you, all three words were next to meaningless on their own, but when combined were one of the fastest and most fore fire way to ruin the good sex they had just had.

Kidd was just too damn lazy to get up, find all of his clothing, put it all back on, and walk all the way down the hall only to collapse in another bed. He was comfortable here, and he doubted that Kate's unconscious form would let him go.

Kidd being Kidd however had to have the last word, even with Kate already fast asleep against him. "No you don't." He murmured. Kate was just getting her goddamn words and her emotions mixed up, it would have to snow in hell before Kate would love him. After all she hated him with a passion and the only reason she was on his crew was on because of her brother. . . .that and she didn't really have a choice on the matter. Though she had come back of her own free will. . . .Kidd's thoughts trailed off as he drifted off to sleep too.

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A/N:

I'd say this is not too bad for a virgin and for a first lemon. . . .what do you think? Well I hope that over all this thing wasn't too cringe worthy. I wrote, rewrote scribbled and rewrote this lemon soooo many times. That I hope you guys enjoy the hell out of it.

Oh and thank you for all of your positive reviews for the last chapter half lemon/lime thing.

Also this lemon/chapter is dedicated to Girl-luvs-manga; she requested this so I hope she enjoys it the most!

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	26. He saw!

A/N: This chapter is for all of you who didn't feel like reading the lemon. I'm sorry you guys had to suffer too. I had a hard time with it. Anyway I hope you can forgive me for my slowness. Everything should be up at my usual updating speed.

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Kate's eyes fluttered open, leaving her momentarily confused. She wasn't in a room with large windows letting in too bright daylight, or in a bed where four of her could have happily fit, but instead in a dim room with a small porthole with little light streaming in- nothing uncomfortably bright though her body was twisted in the sheets that weren't the silk she had grown accustomed to seemed to be plastered to her bare skin and the part of the bed she wasn't occupying was warm, as if there was a body behind her.

Instantly she rolled onto her side, turning her head towards the direction of the heat only to see a pale sleeping face only inches from hers. It looked almost angelic, or maybe it appeared so because rage and anger weren't present, the dark lips were slightly parted as he breathed deeply, not a smirk or sneer on them, not a single shout or profane thing streamed out of the mouth she had tasted so thoroughly last night, his brow wasn't furrowed.

In fact he looked kind of happy, a smile still clinging desperately to his lips. Kidd's strong arms were wrapped tightly around her, even tighter then the sheets, holding her close. One of her legs was thrown over the both of his and his slow deep breaths tickled her face. She propped herself up on one elbow, brushing the limp locks off of his forehead with her fingertips, only to have his stubborn hair fall back into the place she had moved it from.

She almost expected his crimson eyes to pop open and for something to happen, anything really. After all it was more than mind blowing that Kidd had even bothered coming back for her, let alone actually rescued her, and the delicious rough sex they had last night, that hadn't been expected either, so Kate felt that at this time that she couldn't really cross anything off the things that were never going to happen list. Surprisingly enough though they didn't open, not even as she kissed his soft lips quietly saying, "Good morning." Had he been Killer, she would have added the word sunshine, with his long mess of hair on the pillow around him. The sheets and Kidd both refused to relinquish their hold on her, but after a lot of struggling she finally she managed to wrestle herself free, proud of the fact that she hadn't woken Kidd in the process. Leaning over the bed she kissed his forehead whispering, "I don't regret it, not a single second." Not even the parts where she shouted that she loved him- oooh that was just embarrassing. She never did that with Jay-jay, and she had totally been in love with him. With Kidd though. . . .She was still trying to figure things out.

Still on the floor were the weapons and the jacket. A pair of lacy white undies a bra that had suffered at Kidd's hand, a pair of dirty boots, his wretched pants and the blue sash that appeared to have fallen off of the bed, had all been added to the floor. But his goggles were nowhere to be seen. Compared to its normal tidiness the room looked like a disaster zone to Kate. She bent over, scooping up her underwear after jovially slipping on Kidd's jacket and wrapping it around her body like a bathrobe. Walking to the door Kate winced at how sore she was, but she supposed that that couldn't be helped. As she walked she examined her arms, or what she could see of them when pushing up the gigantic sleeves that could have fit two of her arms and still have extra room. Four weeks, that's how long she had gone without any new blemishes even before Kidd she always had one or two- on her and now after one night, there were marks far worse than just simple tenderness and discoloration caused by blood leaking from veins under her skin. All up and down her arms were yellow and green and purple and blue blotches, ragged red scratches, small clots of blood in the shape of crescents, and that was just what she could see of her arms, Kate could hardly imagine what the rest of her body looked like, the other sore and aching parts of her body.

She went into the bathroom, closing and locking the door as if it would do something against someone who really wanted; after all it was just wood. She went over to the tub and began filling it with warm water, tossing the single undergarment into the corner, out of the way. She shed the jacket the only article of clothing she had on and tossed it onto the corner, the farthest place away from the water of the tub, as she stood in front of the mirror over the sink. It only showed her from her shoulders and up. Tentatively Kate reached up and poked one of the marks on her neck. Bite marks and of course bruises littered her neck, leaving next to no non discolored skin visible. Turning her head to examine a bite mark with a small smile she wondered if Kidd was part vampire or if he just really liked the taste of blood.

Kate tucked her hair behind her ear to see that there were a few scabs that rested there too. Kate didn't have to try hard to almost be able to feel his teeth biting down on her ear, his fingernails scraping across her scalp, his naked body pressed to hers. She hadn't been lying, no matter how horrific and painful the after math looked; she regretted not a single one of them, in fact she loved each bud of discoloration and loved each place the skin had been broken even more.

Stepping into the water Kate sunk into it clear up to her nose, her muscles loosening with a long sigh. If Kidd walked in it wouldn't matter at this point. He had seen everything, touched everywhere she had hidden from him the first time he had barged in. She remembered trying so desperately trying to resist him; she remembered even having run away. Kate sunk even farther into the water as she closed her eyes.

Hadn't she once swore up and down to heaven above and to someone- maybe herself?- that she would never end up having sex with a man like Killer? That the act would only bring pain and a lecture from Killer? Well Killer didn't have to know and he couldn't lecture her on things he didn't know about . . . right?

Kidd woke up in Killer's bed- god that sounded wrong, even in his head as he gathered his bearings. He felt horribly rested and was alone. Somehow he wasn't surprised by Kate's absence, wasn't surprised that she had been the first to wake and the first to get up. The space where she should have been was cold and obviously empty. He didn't have to try too hard to see her naked form lying there, her face scrunched up and contorted with pain, her screams telling him that despite her expression she liked every second, every thrust, every pinch bite and scratch.

Sitting up, swinging his legs to the side of the bed he rubbed at his eyes, knowing that he had slept well but was feeling the exact opposite. So he got dressed, deciding to carry his boots-why bother he was just going to climb back into bed, into his bed. Kidd couldn't help but smile at the lack of his jacket that had pooled at the backs of Kate's feet after she had dropped it off her slim shoulders, and the absence of Kate, leading to but one easily reached conclusion.

Opening the door he ended up running into the Killer. Damn he was out of it. He thought as Killer simply asked with an almost knowing tone, "Tired?"

Narrowing his eyes Kidd shoved roughly past him saying, "You're in charge." Killer could take care of everything as he slept

"Yes Captain." He heard from behind him, as if Killer had the choice of refusing the order.

As he headed down the hall and to his room he paused at the door of the bathroom he heard quiet humming and considered walking in, just to see her reaction, how she would react to him barging in this time. Would she run or cover herself? Or would she just tell him to get out with an annoyed frown? As he wondered those things, trying to gage Kate's reaction, Kidd decided to let her be for the time being.

After finishing her long warm bath Kate returned to her and Killer's room to see that the bed was void of more than just Kidd's sleeping form. The sheets were gone; the pillows had no pillow cases and were at the end of the bed. From her place at the door Kate watched Killer flip the mattress and before he could turn around and acknowledge her quiet presence she asked, "What are you doing?" with a cock of her head.

To killer she sounded so innocent, as if she didn't have a clue as to what he was doing or why he was doing it. And even though he had his back to her, he could see her half hugging the door frame, confused expression on her face, curiosity in her eyes. "Making my bed." He bluntly offered nothing else, no other details, no rhyme and no reason to what he was doing.

"Why?" She pressed with a roll of her eyes. She could see that he had flipped the mattress and had put the thingy that went on top of the mattress on but that explained nothing.

Pausing in his work Killer turned around to slowly regard his sister, to see how much damage Kidd had more than likely done to her. As he took his time looking over her he simply asked, "Do you know that the walls of the ship are quite thin?", before stepping forwards a few steps towards her and grabbing on of her hands, careful not to grab her purple wrists. Lifting it up to eye level he asked, "What is this?"

He didn't sound mad, or even slightly curious. "I do now. But that is a bruise." Kate curtly answered, mocking the way Killer had answered her. The input was what he got out, and he hadn't offered any details or specifics as to why he was flipping the mattress and remaking the bed. Ok well she could see why he needed to remake the bed- her and Kidd had sortta messed it up- but that was beside the point! Laughing Kate decided to change her answer and said, "Actually a lot of bruises, why do you ask big brother?"

Killer watched Kate smile brightly up at him. "From Kidd tying you up, correct?" He watched her smile waver for a total of five seconds before breaking and falling off of her reddening face, to a color that rivaled Kidd's hair color.

"H-h-how do you know?" she eyed him suspiciously, now trying to figure out what the purpose of him telling her about the thin walls of the ship was. Well there was only one way that Killer would know about her letting Kidd tie her up and that was if he-

"You didn't lock my door." He simply said in a plain, unemotional tone of voice. Killer couldn't say that he hadn't seen this coming, really he had, and it was not only predictable but almost inevitable with her being the only female on the ship and Kidd having not brought anyone back to the ship in a while. But in his bed for god's sake! Why could they not have occupied Kidd's quarters?!

If it were possible for her already beet read face to turn even redder, then it just happened. Quickly Kate ducked her head and studied the ground and her bare feet, the only really untouched by Kidd part of her body she realized. "S-so you saw . . . stuff?" Stuff, what stuff had he seen?! He had obviously seen Kidd tying her up but she didn't remember the door having ever opened or anyone having come in, when had he walked in on them?! Kate was absolutely mortified that he had witnessed a single second of her and Kidd's rough, intimate acts, even if it most likely meant nothing besides whatever rough sex meant to Kidd.

"Yeah." Killer confirmed that he had indeed seen 'stuff' as Kate had childishly called it.

"I see." Silence hung uncomfortably between them as she searched for something to say, but all she could come up with was a lame apology. Kate slipped her hand out of his and slid her arms around his middle, resting her ear above his heart, listening for a second to its timed beating before muttering, "I'm sorry oniichan." He just stood there, rigid under her tight hug, only moving to rub her back.

She wasn't sorry that her and Kidd had gotten down and dirty with each other, but because he had to witness even a second of the act.

"Don't let it happen again." It was unrealistic to believe that they wouldn't go at it again, that Kate's screams wouldn't be heard throughout the ship again, that she wouldn't continue receiving bruises and marks from Kidd. Well she had always received bruises and marks and injuries from Kidd, and she had always screamed at him, and Kidd screamed right back at her, which was nothing new. But last night. . .

Kate pulled away enough to look up at him and study the mask that never changed not even an ounce before saying, "No promises big brother." How did he expect her to keep that promise, to tell him that her and Kidd would never- that Killer wouldn't ever- that her and Kidd would never use the room her and Killer shared again?

He sighed heavily and tilted her head up so that he could see the damage Kidd had done to Kate's neck. "Please try."

"I will." At that she adverted her eyes, pulling away from him and taking a step back. "But do you really have to change the bedding and flip the mattress?" That usual spark in her eyes, the playful tone in her voice reappeared with those words as she crossed her arms giving him a 'really big brother?' look.

"Yes." Killer felt that he should go burn the mattress, not just flip it. Hell, he needed to get some kind of partial amnesia to make him forget the imagery, the sound, all of what he had walked in on, to get rid of the things that were unwillingly burned into his mind's eye. If he were Kate he'd have stomped his foot and declared that it was unfair even though there was nothing anyone had the power to fix. But since he wasn't Kate He'd simply pretend that nothing had happened . . . or try to at least.

"That's rude but can-"

"It's sanitary." He couldn't help but clarify exactly why he was changing the sheets of his bed, interrupting her in the process of doing so.

"So? Can I borrow a shirt?"

"What's wrong with Kidd's jacket?" She was holding it closed, as one might a bathrobe, tight around her body.

"Kidd ruined my. . ." The color that had faded from the tips of Kate's ears and her face returned, burning bright across her cheeks. ". . . the b-br-bra. He uh . . . broke t-the front." Of course Kidd couldn't have just taken the bra off like a normal person, or just have pushed if off of her breasts, nooo he just had to rip the undergarment off of her body in the heat of the moment. Well to be honest in the heat of the moment she hadn't minded.

"You still have underwear right?" What was he going to do if she didn't have underwear?! Killer momentarily began trying to figure out exactly what he was going to do to fix that problem before it arose. Fortunately a quick nod of Kate's head and all of the problem solving immediately stopped. Kidd hadn't ruined those in the process of teasing her. Looking down at the small bit of skin that was visible of her legs he looked back up at her and asked, "Pants?" Thinking back to when they left the castle last night, she had left in only Kidd's jacket and her undergarments, no shoes, no shirt, no pants, and no dress.

"'fraid not oniichan. But if Kidd doesn't kill me for his jacket like last time then it's fine.

"No it's not fine." He insisted as predictable as Kidd could be in some things, there was no telling if he would let Kate continue wearing his jacket or not.

"Oh and why not?" Kate challenged putting her fists on her hips, shifting her weight, the front of the jacket falling open to reveal more then what Killer wanted to see. The bruises, bite marks and of course his sisters naked body.

Quickly he reached forwards and pulled it closed like one might quickly close a curtain of a window that was letting in too much light. "Because I will not have my baby sister running around this ship with just Kidd's jacket and one of my shirts on." He explained to her.

"You forgot undies. I have undies on big brother." She was quick to tell him.

Killer let go of the jacket and went over to his dresser and tossed her a pair of pants and then one of his shirts from his closet. As he tossed them to her he said, "Fix them to your liking." Killer knew that the pants would never be the same, not with the permission he had granted her. He was unsure about the future condition of the shirt but there wasn't much she could do to it.

The pants hit her in the face but didn't fall and she accidentally caught the shirt in her arms. Pulling the pants off of her head Kate had a glint in her eyes as she slowly asked, "Anything?" as if she were unsure that she had heard him correctly. Had she heard right?! That she could do anything to the clothing he had tossed at her?! Well if Killer was so set on her wearing a pair of pants then why bother arguing? He nodded his consent almost begrudgingly. "Cool mind turning around?"

"I'm not going to-"

"I don't want you to see anything." Kate was really hoping that he had only seen her neck, not the rest of her body when the jacket had slipped open. If he had she had to give him props, he wasn't freaking out like she figured that he'd do if he saw all of the marks on her.

With an unseen roll of his eyes and the click of the door closing Killer turned his back to his sister to appease her. It was nothing he hadn't seen before but he'd respect her privacy.

Kate dropped Kidd's jacket off of her body, reminding her again of last night, before quickly slipping on Killers shirt and buttoning up the long sleeved shirt and then she pulled on his strange pants. "Hey, look at us, we match!" Kate threw her arms up into the air with a smile on her face as she popped up to the balls of her feet.

Turning around he said, "No." as he looked her over. The fully buttoned shirt hung differently on her more shapely then his body and on her hips his pants hung at a severe angle, the bottom of the legs pooling at her feet. And that is why he said anything, it needed some work. Some way to be transformed from his usual apparel to something definitely Kate. Though he doubted that she minded matching him.

"What do you mean no?" She asked.

"I mean despite similar-"

"Identical." Kate huffed, sounding offended, as if she wanted to match him- something he'd rather not do.

Sighing Killer continued where Kate had interrupted him. ", clothing, we do not match."

"Whatever, just hand me one of your scythe things." She demanded picking up Kidd's jacket and putting it back on. Killer didn't bother wondering why she had all of the buttons done up or why she wanted one of his scythes. He just handed it to her, pressing it into her held out impatiently hand.

Curling her fingers around it Kate went and sat on the unfinished bed and lifted one of her legs. With the sound of ripping fabric over two thirds of the pant leg was severed from the remaining one third and slipped to the floor when she uncrossed her leg. Looking up Kate grinned at him and said, "You said anything."

Killer nearly face palmed. Not what he had meant. Those pants were far too short, almost worse than that damn corset that had thankfully disappeared. The only thing that seemed to be holding up the pants now was her ass and maybe the curve of her hip. The second pant leg was cut off and the sharp blade was returned to him as she skipped past him and then out of the door. Shaking his head Killer returned to making the bed.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?


	27. Life's not fair

Kate was skipping down the hallway on the way to the deck only to spot something in the middle of the floor. Coming to a stop before it, Kate realized that it was Kidd's goggles. So that's where he had lost them, they hadn't even made it to the room. She thought to herself with a small laugh as she bent down scooped them up and continued on her way, now heading for the man's office.

As she was about to knock a voice behind her said, "If you're looking for Master Kidd isn't not in there."

Startled by the voice behind her Kate nearly jumped out of her skin as she madly whipped around to face the owner of the voice. "H-hello Heat." She stammered, leaning back against the door, hand over her pounding heart. He simply nodded in response to her greeting. "Do you happen to know where Captain might be?"

He studied her for a moment, causing Kate to rub her neck, feeling only the fabric of Killers shirt, unable to feel the scabs that she knew were there, heat rushing to her face and revealing the bruises and marks on her arm instead. Upon seeing the square goggles held loosely in her other hand he said, "He hasn't been seen today." She thought that he was done talking and she was about to walk around him when he added, "You're out later than usual." Heat was pretty sure that everyone had heard everything last night and into the early hours of the morning. And her deep blush as well as the tentative way she rubbed her covered neck only confirmed that her and Kidd were guilty.

"I see. I found his goggles on the floor and . . . uuuh umm . . ."As she waved the already seen goggles around her sentence faltered and she stopped trying to form a sentence all together that only managed to last ten seconds before she tried again. "I err . . . um . . . I'm going to go-"

She started walking around him when he said, "Welcome back." Before turning and walking away. He would have said it yesterday but she had been flitting around giving each member two second hugs before literally running into Kidd and then being taken down below deck. Heat hoped that Kidd wouldn't almost kill Kate over the jacket that she was currently wearing. He also didn't have the privilege to see her face turn bright red as she quickly tried to get out of sight. Hopefully Kidd was no longer going to almost sink the ship in fits of random and explosive rage now that Kate was here to stay . . . hopefully.

Kate was so excited that Kidd and Killer weren't the only ones happy to see her! She ran as fast as she would out of sight of anyone of the deck so that no one would see the deep blush on her face. 'Welcome back' he had said, reminding her of last night and Kidd, which she tried to push out of her mind. As she ran the heavy jacket flapped behind her. She jumped to a stop in front of Kidd's door but before she could knock she faltered, her hand poised and ready to rap against the wood but her knuckles only came to a silent rest against the closed door.

Should she walk in? What if Kidd wanted his beautiful jacket? What if- Kate shook her head; putting a stop to the innumerable what if's circling her head and decided to not bother Kidd and to leave them on the door handle. There were just too many things going through her head, too many scenes and scenario's that played in her mind's eye, ones that she didn't want to become a reality.

A few days later at dinner Kate's seat was still empty, void of her small body and insults aimed at Kidd- who had taken the liberty of coming to dinner tonight. Killer had a feeling that Kate's return to the ship had something to do with Kidd coming back to sit at the dinner table that him, his sister and Kidd shared. He also had a feeling that Kidd's current not as good as it could have been mood was also Kate's fault. Sighing heavily he stood and said, "I'll be back." Kidd grunted at him in response as he walked away to retrieve Kate.

It didn't take long to find his little sister; she was practicing complicated flips, off the crow's nest. He silently walk past him, climb the ropes and teeter at the edge before pushing off, several times. He watched her flip, spin and land perfectly, effortlessly a few times. Only for her feet to hit the deck at an odd angle and to send her towards the deck at a hard, just as odd angle that could end up hurting her.

Shit! Kate cursed as her feet hit the deck at a weird angle, as she landed all wrong! Ten more feet, four more seconds and it could have been her neck! Kate managed a mad growl as she tumbled to the side, knowing that she would be unable to catch herself properly. At worse she'd have a broken something or other, it depended how she landed. At best she'd be sore for a few days. But even though she was somewhat prepared to hit the deck, she found herself falling hard into a strong fleshy wall, pushing it back a step of two, strong arms catching and stopping her fall. Quickly she scrambled away from the said wall realizing that it was a person as she automatically muttered an apology.

"It's dinner." He told her simply, secretly making sure that she was in fact ok, uninjured.

"I know." Kate knew very well that it was dinner time. She was waiting for the crew- namely Kidd- to leave the galley so that she could go get what was left and enjoy her food.

"Don't tell me you're not hungry." Killer sternly said to her in an 'I know better' tone of voice.

She had never said anything about not being hungry, just that she knew what time it was. "No, I am." She confirmed easily enough, reaching up and wiping sweat off her brow.

"Then come eat with us." He said. Even though the words sounded like an invitation, it wasn't. The only choice Kate had was whether she wanted to come of her own free will or not, the easy way or the hard way. Either was fine with Killer though he'd prefer to not have to drag his little sister to dinner.

"Us? As in you and Kidd?" She shook her head no before he could confirm or deny that Kidd was going to be there, her face reddening as she decided to try to get Killer off of her case. "I'll grab a bite after you'r-"

"Why are you avoiding Kidd?" The only reason she wouldn't want to eat with them was because of Kidd. After all why would she be avoiding him? She had more of a reason to be avoiding Kidd then she did him even though he had walked in on them.

"I-I'm- what makes you think that I'm avoiding Kidd? Maybe I'm just not hungry." She asked crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him. They regarded each other, his shirt was still completely buttoned, she was still barefoot and the shorts were still hanging crookedly at her waist. Her stomach growled, as if begging Killer to hurry up and force Kate to go to dinner. But even then they stood there, not moving until another moment of silence passed between them before Kate let out a huff, shifting her weight and running a hand back through her damp hair. "Ok fine, I am hungry. But I'm waiting."

Killer wanted to laugh. He knew that she was hungry, she had already admitted it, but he had a feeling that Kate had forgotten that she had already admitted it. "No you can't." if she waited there would be no food for her and then she'd be complaining that she was starving until breakfast or lunch tomorrow.

"I know. But I'm going to. Thanks for the save." With that Kate climbed back to the crow's nest, balanced herself on the edge, looking down at him and giving him a small unenthusiastic wave before launching herself into the air.

Once she had landed perfectly once again Killer grabbed her wrist saying, "Come on." as he began pulling her towards the door. After all he didn't want Kate starving herself on Kidd's behalf and he didn't want her bothering the rest of the crew tomorrow or the rest of the night as she complained about how hungry she was. That and she was supposed to be improving Kidd's moods and so far- if one were to not include the first night- it wasn't working too well.

"No oniichan stop." She kept repeating over and over. Her protests got weaker and weaker as she realized that he wasn't listening to her. Even though she had verbally given up she was still trying to pull her wrist out of his strong and firm grasp. She doubted that the excuse that her wrists were bruised, tender and still skinned would make him listen, to make him let go of her, to convince him to let her deal with her meals on her own, without his help. "Hey, wait. Let me at least get my jacket please." She said as they reached the door and Killer opened it. With a roll of his eyes Killer reached up and pulled it down off the quarterdeck's railing and handed it to her. He let her slip into it like a second skin before dragging her below the deck.

"Don't fight Kidd for that thing." He requested of his sister. He didn't want a repeat of last time. She had only been back a little under a week and he'd like it if she were to stay uninjured for as long as possible.

"But big brother." Kate whimpered, the amount of resistance had decreased greatly and she was no longer digging her heels into the deck but instead now letting Killer lead her through the sip, only to fruitlessly try to pull out of his grasp a few more times. "I got in fare in square. Hell he practically gave it to me."

"If he wants it back he didn't give it to you."

"But-" she began. If Kidd wanted it back after giving it to her then he was just being an asshole.

"Stop whining Kate." He interrupted her. Instead of getting all hot headed and defensive as he expected Kate to do, she became silent. Most likely trying to punish him by giving him the cold shoulder, which he knew wouldn't last long, a day or two at the most.

Outside the galley Kate began struggling like mad once more. "Killer don't make me sit near Kidd." She begged her older brother. Maybe he'd take pity on her or something like that. She had done a damn good job at keeping away from Kidd for the last few days and yes that included meals.

"Why is this meal any different than the last one you had with us?" Killer asked catching her arm as she managed to slip her wrist out of his hand.

"Because we had sex!" She shouted at him as if it were the only reason she needed.

Even though Killer was well aware of this fact only Kate would so blatantly shout the fact at him. "And?" He inquired. If she gave him a good enough reason he might get her dinner and give it to her. But that was only if.

"He's not Jay-Jay. I'm not in love with him. That means that I can't- I can't just go back to acting normal with and around him." Kate explained with a sigh. That and he had left his mark on her, several of them.

Sighing Killer deemed that not a good enough reason and pulled her to the table. He pulled out her chair maneuvered her in front of it, pushed her down, pushed her up to the table and then went to get her food. He still didn't understand her fear.

"You're fucking late." Kidd growled at her as if she were expected to eat all of her meals with him at the table in the galley.

"Sorry King Kidd." She sneered at him, not making eye contact.

"What's up your ass?" He asked her looking surprised.

"Nothing." She grumbled at him, not about to say his dick. . .

This was embarrassing! God why couldn't he just stop talking to her? Why couldn't he just be more like Jay-Jay? Why was she making this worse than it really was? Why the hell was she making so much out of so little, out of one simple act?

Killer had to force Kate to sit down in front of him and even then she didn't immediately start talking or questioning him about god only knows what. Hell she hardly looked at him. He couldn't help but smile at the damage he had done and the fact that she was trying but failing to hide it with the collar of one of Killer's shirts.

With the word 'nothing' hanging in the air between them Kidd watched Kate fold her arms on the table top before dropping her head with a quiet and muffled moan. Not two seconds later Killer set a plate of food down in front of her as he sat down and commanded her to eat. Kate didn't lift her head or make any move towards the food, just moaned the word why?

Kidd turned to his first mate asking, "What the fuck is wrong with your sister?" Yeah Kidd never thought he'd get laid with Kate but-that's when it hit him. She was making a few nights ago out to be more them what it was- typical woman. He almost wanted to drop his head into his arms in a fashion similar to Kate's and let out a groan . . . almost but not quite. Maybe he should just smack her and tell her that the sex had meant nothing- which wasn't entirely true- But when Killer only shrugged his shoulders he finished his bite and stabbed the small and for the most part silent girl in front of him. As he did so he asked, "I didn't fucking break you did I?" So far he had yet to either literally or figuratively, mentally or physically broken Kate, and he'd done much worse things than fuck her. Not only that but if he had indeed broken her than that would make going back and rescuing her not only pointless but also a goddamned waste of time.

Her head of blonde hair popped up instantly with narrowed eyes as she growled, "You fucking wish you could break me."

Kate was a bit taken aback when Kidd sat back with a smirk and a single, rather smug word, "Good." The little bitch was alright, she was still in her right mind- not that she was ever in her right mind but that's how Kidd liked it, it was how he preferred Kate to be.

"Good?" she repeated back, brow furrowing as she finished examining the spot with a few small round impressions from the fork Kidd had used to stab her with, and then looking up at him, a frown tugging down the corners of her mouth. He only smirked in response, the chatter and noise of the galley drifted between them once again as they regarded each other silently. "Did you know that oniichan walked in on us?" Kate slowly and casually asked not knowing what else to say. Talking bothered her but the silence bothered her even more as she ate at an unusually slow pace. She wondered why was it that she seemed to so easily bruise but he didn't have a single mark on him. It just wasn't fair.

"I can do whatever the fuck I want on my ship."

"Which now includes me." Kate grumbled.

"Don't forget it." He flashed a smiled at her, one that made Kate want to fling a forkful of food at his face or to take the fork she was eating with and stab it into his arm so deep that when she let go it would stand on its own. Or maybe she should kick him between the legs if her legs would reach of course.

"Oh I'll try not to King Kidd." She sneered at him calmly taking a bite, resisting temptation- all of them. "Hey you know I have a bounty." Now was a great time to rub the fact and her epithet in his face.

"I'm aware." Both Kidd and Killer said in unison, Kidd smirking knowingly as if to say 'I knew this before you'.

Kidd watched as her jaw slackened, her mouth thankfully empty as she gasped, "Excuse me?" Luckily she wasn't choking. IF anyone was going to be the end of Kate it was going to be Kidd, not a measly bite of food. It would be a very anticlimactic way for her life to end.

"Kidd Princess Kate, 60 million beli." Kidd was having fun, both Killer and Kate could tell because he was still smiling, making it harder and harder for Kate to resist temptation. Kate could just shoot him at this point. How long had she had her bounty? And why hadn't Killer told her if he had known about it?!

"You knew oniichan?! How-why didn't you tell me?! And you Kidd- well I'm not surprised." It wasn't fair that she had to turn about her bounty from her bodyguard/friend/maid in a castle.

"Orders." Killer simply answered.

"Of course. So are our bounties rising now that you've rescued me? I mean I'm sure you're seen as the bad guys. I mean killing people, destroying things, almost killing the emperor and stealing his bride, that's a pretty long list of villainous things."

Kidd continued smirking as Killer said, "Yes. However Kate you do know that we've done worse."

"Right. So did you rescue me for larger bounties and more publicity or because of the deeply hidden goodness in your guy's hearts?" Kate was betting that Killer might have been concerned about her, with the portion of his heart and mind that belonged to her and only her. But with Kidd, the greedy bastard probably just wanted a larger bounty. It was unlikely that he just wanted her back, after all she was talking about Kidd, the rough, ruthless and rash Eustass 'Captain' Kidd.

"Maybe we did, maybe we didn't. But what the hell makes you think that I'd come back just for you?"

Kate shrugged her shoulders and said, "Just a hunch. So can I leave now? I'm done eating." She asked turning her attention to her brother before shoving the last bite into her mouth and giving Killer this 'happy?' look. He nodded his consent, all he had wanted to do was make sure that she had eaten, was that so wrong? "Do you want this thing back?" She asked standing but not leaving.

"Are you offering?" Kidd asked hiding his shock behind a sneer. Was she offering to return his jacket to him?

Kate wrapped her arms around herself and twisted her body away from Kidd with narrowed aquamarine eyes and a quick "No. Never. I just don't want to fight over it."

"Why is that?" He was under the impression that she liked pain, after all she seemed to have enjoyed it in the bedroom enough.

"Because I don't feel like getting beat up over this damn thing." That was a lie. If Kidd wanted his jacket back then he'd have to try it off her limp unconscious – or dead- body. There was no way in hell that Kate would hand it over to Kidd, even if he did want it back.

She was prepared to run, to take off like a bat out of hell, to have to go find a hiding place for her it or both when Kidd just said, "Maybe later."

She kissed the forehead of Killer's mask, blew Kidd a kiss and then skipped away. Once out of earshot Kate squealed in joy, paying no mind to the face that Kidd hadn't said that she could have it or that he wouldn't beat her for it later as she happily danced down and around the empty hall.

"You do realize that you're not going to get that back very easily." Killer cautiously told his captain as he watched Kate skip out of the large room. Maybe Kidd didn't realize that he had just made Kate's week. And even though he could only see the back of her head he knew that she was beaming, absolutely glowing from the iffy answer that Kidd had given her, all over a jacket.

"Oh I know." Kidd said with a knowing smile.

Did that mean that Kidd had just knowingly made Kate's day? If so it was very uncharacteristic. Maybe he had an ulterior motive. "Are you going to try and take it back later?" Killer asked Kidd. Surely that was why he had decided to be nice to Kate, giving her what she most wanted.

Shrugging Kidd stood and followed in Kate's footsteps, out of the galley, only without the spring in his heavy steps.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	28. I thought i wanted you back

During the next week Kate was not once seen without Kidd's jacket on her body, the bottom of it trailing behind her like a train of a dress. Heck if Kate wasn't seen practicing her acrobatics or asking to fight with one of the crew members, or during an occasional meal she was hardly seen at all. There had yet to be much screaming, bellowing, cursing, giggling and all of the things that a fight between the captain and the small blonde entailed. Killer nor any of the other Kidd Pirates had yet to find any unconscious forms on the deck or in the halls below the deck.

"Oniichan." Kate whined bouncing to a stop in front of him, the sleeves flopping around and the jacket settling around her quietly. He didn't answer, just tilted his head towards her, waiting for her to tell him what she wanted. Kate's tone of voice suggested that she wanted something, whether it be for him to do something for her or just for him to answer one of her questions. "Where is captain?"

It was rather surprising that Kate was bouncing around at this time of day especially after how horribly she had slept last night, after all of the tossing and turning and of course keeping him up in the process. He hadn't asked her why she couldn't sleep, she was a big girl and he had thought that if she managed to go to sleep then she'd just sleep in later than usual today. However he had been incorrect and she was up bright and early, only minutes after he had left their room. "Sleeping." He answered. It was hardly dawn and Kate was up and awake- it was simply mind blowing, she was not a morning person. "But I thought you were avoiding him." Killer had witnessed Kate walking down the hall, see Kidd and then turn and run the opposite way, duck into the nearest door or down the nearest hall. The only time her and Kidd had really tied into it was during meal times, in which tempers flared, arguments were shouted, and if silverware wasn't being flung then Kate was being dragged across the table by the jacket she refused to take off, even when sleeping. When sleeping Kate simply didn't have her arms in the sleeves.

"Oh trust me I still am."

"Kate." Warned Killer. He was quite concerned as to why Kate needed to know where Kidd was if she was still avoiding him.

"What?" She 'innocently' asked him. Killer just shook his head at her. "Do you know if there's any markers on this ship? Maybe in Kidd's office, chart, map, room place?"

He shrugged. "You'll have to check." Killer's mind was spinning, working hard to figure out how a sleeping Kidd and a marker fit together in Kate's eccentric, erratic mind, something that she could come up with on a seconds whim. But then he stopped, no never mind, he didn't want to now. There were just far too many possibilities, too many things that Kate could plan and decide with Kidd and a marker.

"So you're telling me that you don't know? Well how about a pen? Are there any pens in this god forsaken ship?" She huffed at him crossing her arms.

"Yes I believe so." Killer answered, not returning her attitude.

A smile spread itself across her face and she happily said, "Ok then, thanks. I'll see you later." And with those words Kate dashed into the as she had put it 'Kidd's office, chart, map, room place'. She didn't appear without something clutched in her hot little hand. "Perfect!" she exclaimed closing the door behind her. The red ink incased in clear plastic was just perfect for Kidd. Looking up she said a cheerful farewell to her big brother before skipping to the door that led below deck and disappeared.

When she was gone Killer inwardly groaned asking himself why Kate needed a pen, why she was going to bother Kidd it. Well he'd see the outcome soon enough.

Unfortunately after twenty minutes or so of silence, or the crew slowly coming out and going about their business Kate burst out onto the deck, giggling like a crazy little child who had done something wrong- and knew it- but hadn't been caught yet. She returned the red pen to its proper place. Upon coming out and seeing him she came to a stop and solemnly said, "I did nothing." Before continuing her way up to the quarter deck where she quietly settled into the throne like chair of Kidd's, wrapping the jacket she had 'stolen' around her body, her legs spilling over one arm of the chair, the other arm acting as her headrest.

When Killer checked on her a few minutes later to ask her what she had done and to check their course he found that Kate was sound asleep. So he decided not to disturb her, to let her get what sleep she'd be able to manage to get before Kidd charged out onto the deck with the mission of finding an harming if not killing Kate, and simply check their course. After doing so he turned around and wound up lightly brushing some just long enough strands of hair away from her face, muttering the word stupid as he did so with a shake of his head. He supposed that it was about time that she did something to enrage Kidd, that it was about time that he found her unconscious form laying crumpled and bloodied somewhere on the ship, that the shouting and fighting was weeks over due. But even then he wasn't too keen on or thrilled with the idea of finding his baby sister beaten into an unconscious state on the ship. He'd rather not have to pick up another one of her messes.

Kidd woke up but took a while to actually decide to get up and out of his bed, to get up and to want to do anything. After all Killer was probably taking care of whatever so he needn't worry about that. But eventually he sat up and swung his legs around to the side of his bed and rested his elbows on his knees as he wiped the lingering sleep from his eyes before getting dressed.

Each day that went by without incident was grating on his nerves, wearing down his already thin and subtle patience, and to be frank it was starting to piss him off. It wasn't as though he needed a reason to beat the little blonde bitch, hell he had pillaged villages, burned entire islands and massacred people for the hell of it, because he was in the mood and because he felt like it. But for some unknown reason Kidd felt that he needed more of a reason then just because to lay a hand on Kate with more than violent intentions. Something must be wrong with her, she wasn't getting on his nerves like she used to, like he was used to her doing.

Her silence, the way she was blatantly ignoring him, the way she ran the moment she laid eyes on him, the way she blushed and lowered her eyes during the meals they both bothered to show up to, it was too unnatural for Kate. Her actions and words should practically be begging for him to do something. She should be bothering him with her damn questions, talking his ears off until he smacked her or told her to shut the fuck up- and even then continue- but she wasn't. And Kidd was ready to explode the moment he found a reason to do so. God he'd make her suffer for her silence, for running away from him every time she was him after he had gone back to save her sorry ass. All he needed was one half ass reason to do so.

Letting out a quiet growl of annoyance at the last two weeks or so Kidd stood and walked out of his room and went to the bathroom. Passing the mirror that hung above the sink he had to do a double take when the sight of red in his reflection (that wasn't his hair) caught his attention. Despite the words 'I LOVE KATE BUT AM TOO DAMN STUPID TO ADMIT/REALIZE IT!' printed in red ink across his forehead, on each cheek, on his chin and currently bare and weaponless chest a smile cracked across his face- one that would leave most people running, scrambling and begging for their lives, as well as leaving his crew wondering what in the name of hell he was up to.

He had just found that one good reason he had been searching for.

Killer could hear Kidd storming about the ship before he could see him. And it wasn't long before his captain burst out onto the deck, obviously on a manhunt for his little sister, who was sleeping peacefully on the throne like chair of his, bound to be found by Kidd rather soon.

He began searching for the little whore but he didn't find her sleeping innocently in Killer's bed or eating in the galley. Kidd didn't find Kate skipping jovially throughout his ship with a goddamned care in the fucking world. With no luck below deck Kidd stormed onto the deck, there were only so many places she could be here. He thought to himself.

When Kidd threw open the door Killer got a good view of the damage that Kate had done to his captain. Even though the words were more or less true- on both ends- they still appeared to enrage Kidd.

Finally he found her curled up in his throne looking like the poster child of guilty. His jacket was pulled up over her shoulders being used as a blanket, the only part of her that was visible other than the tips of her toes was her face. Kidd was aware of Killers presence on the stairs leading up to the quarterdeck, watching him as he reached forwards and wrapped his large hand around her small throat before none too gently jerking her out of his throne, her misty with sleep and incomprehension blue eyes popped open as his jacket hit the deck between them with a heavy thump.

Fear was supposed to fill her no longer sleepy eyes, to make her start trying to get out of his strong grasp. She was supposed to realize how screwed she was, how stupid deciding to take a nap in his throne was after drawing on him like the child she mostly was as she dangled there a foot or so off the ground, at his eye level. So he was surprised to say the least- though in all honesty he shouldn't have been- when Kate threw her head back and began laughing despite the air suppressing hold he had on her neck.

"Kidd." Killers warning voice hardly reached his ears, let alone registered. His name was simply a reminder that the whore's life rested in his hand, that there were numerous things he could do to end her fragile life, to get rid of her, to finally be free of her.

"You should see your face Captain." Kate stopped laughing and started gasping when his grip tightened, but even then the smile did not falter, waver or drop off of her face. "You can hardly see the ink you're so red." If she wasn't so amused then she'd be concerned for her safety. This was soooo not funny, if he kept squeezing she was not only going to be dead but also Neptunian food. Or maybe Kidd would keep her head on a pike, an 'I finally got rid of the bitch' trophy type of thing. Yet despite the situation and its lack of humor Kate couldn't help but laugh.

And after her comment the red ink was nearly invisible as he growled, "And I thought I fucking wanted you back." before he launched her over the rail of the quarterdeck. It wouldn't do well if he simply threw her into the water because then he'd have to fish her out, though watching her flail around in the water, trying to stay afloat with some kind of angry expression as she shouted god only knows what at him might serve as some entertainment.

Killer was surprised when Kidd didn't throw her into the ocean. He was thankful, relieved and glad, but he was still surprised ever the same.

When Kate's body slammed into the lower deck Kidd expected her to get up, to start laughing like an insane maniac, to get up and say that the impact didn't hurt at all. He expected her to criticize the rather time manner in which he had handled her this time, how she had already seen this trick before, how he should really shake things up a bit and try something other than choking and throwing her around just because he could, because she was light enough and he was strong enough to do so. But when she didn't move Kidd marched down the stairs, pushing past his first mate and coming to a stop only about a foot or less away from her defenseless body. Standing over her was just like before, he could shoot her, he could stab her, he could crush some major and/or vital organ with his boot or he could just his devil fruit power. But killing the bitch, where the hell would that get him?

Nowhere. Killing her would put an end to his entertainment.

So just like last time he pulled back his foot and kicked her away from him. Kidd would have opted for kicking her in the head but that was more than a surefire way to kill her, to give her brain damage at the least. Impaling her with the golden spikes on the jacket that she loved so much would kill her just as well. "Wouldn't that be fucking ironic?" Kidd sneered aloud to the slowly coming too girl. Kidd let Kate stagger to her feet; she wasn't fucking laughing anymore he noted gleefully as he said "Reject."

"Stop denying m-" she cockily began before being jerked away with the necklace he had noticed that she had somehow gotten back before they had gotten her back, and any other metal that was on her. Her head slammed back into the wood of the mast with a small cry and a cough of blood.

When her head hit the whatever the hell it had hit Kate could have sworn the world had gone black, and how the hell did she end up on her knees. After hitting the whatever, the next thing she knows is that Kidd is coming her way, more than likely feeling all macho and satisfied with the way she tasted blood. So what she had deserved what Kidd was dishing out to her, who cared that she was afraid for her life this time, being choked and then thrown about had been the worse way to be woken up. And why was Killer just watching? Shouldn't he be protecting her? All three of them knew that she wasn't going to be able to fight back efficiently enough. After all she still didn't quite know how she ended up on her hands and knees.

Killer watched his captain kick his sister around in her unconscious state until some instinct in her body or a hard enough kick forced her to regain unstable consciousness. But Kidd was far from done with her after the words she had written on him in ink, and she had really been asking for it this time which was why he was making no move to stop Kidd as of yet. She dropped to her hands and knees, staining the deck and one of her hands with blood. As she knelt there Kidd stalked towards her, like a cat playing with its wounded prey, knowing that it wasn't going to escape no matter how much time it gave its prey. Kidd was also grinning widely as he held one arm up. Killer knew that the next word out of his mouth would bring Kate to him, to her feet at the least. Killer was fairly sure that Kidd wouldn't kill Kate, just teach her a lesson, one that she wouldn't learn. After all she had said so herself, she'd never learn.

But he didn't know how much longer she could keep on taking Kidd's abuse. With a sigh Killer jumped over the rail of the stairs leading up to the quarterdeck and slid between his captain and Kate, both very important people in his life, both people in whom he was very loyal to. "Captain." He said cutting off the word and stopping Kidd in his tracks.

"What? Get the fuck out of my way." His slowly calming down captain growled at him, looking around him and at Kate, as though all he wanted to do was to get through him and to get to his sister.

"I cannot permit you to do anymore damage to my baby sister." True had had done a hell of a lot more damage to her himself but that had been different. It was for a good cause, not for his cruel and twisted entertainment, and not for extracting revenge as Kidd was doing now.

Things could go one of two ways right now. One Kidd could get all 'I'm captain, you're the first mate, she fucking wronged me not get the hell out of my way before I make you'. Or he could back down- which was unlikely. Killer was betting on the first of the two options, so he slid into a defensive stance in front of his sister. He didn't want to fight his captain, who was at an advantage with his magnetic devil fruit ability, but if he chose the first of the two roads to travel down then simple words would not satisfy him and he'd be damned if he didn't try and protect her. If she wasn't on her knees still hacking up a lung behind him he wouldn't be half as defensive, but it appeared those few kicks when she was unconscious had taken their toll.

"Oh shove it big brother." A voice said as a force pushed him aside. "I love you too but if he's got a bone to pick with me let him pick it." She then turned her attention to Kidd and walked- no sauntered- up to him, not stopping until she had to look up at him. She stood there glaring up at the redheaded man, blood covering her hands, lips and the surrounding area. But before he could react she scoffed and said, "I hate to break it to you Captain but you never wanted me back. I know that Killer somehow pressured you into coming back for me and to save my sorry handcuffed to a damn marriage bed, ass."

"Bullshit!" Kidd exclaimed. He wouldn't let Killer pressure him into anything, especially something like returning to an island and saving a girl in which he absolutely detested.

"Then you came back so that you could beat me whenever the mood struck." She snapped at him crossing her arms over her chest. Let's see him deny that one. She thought to herself.

Kidd reached forwards, chuckling a bit when Kate flinched away from him. He unbuttoned the first few buttons on the shirt of Killers that she was wearing and said, "That's getting warmer but you're still incorrect." Maybe it would be more entertaining to do nothing, not to break a single bone in her body and to watch her astonishment as he didn't do anything more to her. It would satisfy Killer too, three birds with one stone. "Not only have you been hiding form be but you've also been hiding my handiwork." His thumb traced over the fading scabs of a bite mark with a smile. Everything was fading, but the marks and bruises were still there, plenty visible but not near as much as they were after the first few days. "Do you regret it?"

"No." Kate whispered, standing rigid under Kidd's touch, waiting for him to A) rip off her shirt because he could and he thought she was hiding his marks- which she was. B) To start choking her or deliver another blow to her body. The heavy tangy taste of blood was still strong in her mouth.

Killer was standing off to the side; in the place Kate had pushed him to, ready to defend his sister; even with the strange turn of conversation and events. Kidd and Kate both acted on whims, making them both unpredictable but there was one question that kept popping into his mind, one that was surely spinning around Kidd's mind as well. To continue or to not continue punishing Kate. But Killer didn't know which one his captain would choose, if his sister would go flying or not.

Kidd laughed. Her reactions to seeing him every time she saw him, the way she had the shit buttoned all the way to the top button and the way she blushed, it all begged to differ, it all contradicted her answer. "Then what are you trying to hide? It's not as though the entire crew didn't hear us." He pointed out to the blonde no longer glaring up at him.

At those words Kate turned an amusing shade of pink, looking towards and holding up her arms as if asking him where was the help now that she wanted it. But he just stood there; she had gotten herself into this mess so she could get herself out. The only reason he would intervene is if Kidd were to make any more moves to physically harm Kate.

"B-b- because it's embarrassing!" Kate finally managed to exclaim.

"What the fuck is embarrassing?"

"Facing Killer." She whispered then silently added, and the rest of the crew. Kate was still waiting for that blow to come, for him to 'turn on' his devil fruit power and to strangle her with her own necklace. If Killer weren't her brother, if she didn't care what he thought then she wouldn't be bothered keeping those two nearly suffocating buttons buttoned, keeping most of the marks out of Killers sight. And by simply covering the marks meant that she didn't have to avoid Killer too, after all avoiding one person was exhausting enough. "But why are you bringing it up now?" Even though she was avoiding him, even though she had skipped a lot of the meals they would have shared, there had been a few times where they were face to face.

"Does it matter?" He asked her.

"I suppose not King Kidd. But do you mind? Stop undressing me." Kate grumbled, glaring at him but not moving, not swatting his hands away from the second button on Killers shirt. Kidd's hands slid down to the third one, knowingly pushing his limits with a smile. He was waiting for a reaction, anything more than the glare she was giving him at the moment would suffice. "Kidd." She quietly growled at him, merely shifting her weight. He only hmmed at her, not bothering with a coherent response. "I'm warning you." Kate said just above a whisper. But when he didn't stop at that button Kate couldn't help but react. For god's sake they were on the deck, in broad daylight, in front of her brother! She slapped Kidd, not very hard but hard enough to make him pause and return the glare. "Next time I'll reduce you to a whimpering mass on the floor." She grumbled at the man as she rebuttoned the third button. It was in the middle of her chest and she didn't have any undergarments and there were eyewitnesses now. Like usual anyone who came onto the deck during one of their exchanges ignored them, but Kate still didn't want to flash them, none of them needed to get an eyeful.

Before she could walk away Kidd grabbed her upper arm and slammed his fist into her face, hitting the bone under her eye. She didn't cough out any teeth or anymore blood, just silently held the already bruising place on her face as he growled, "And I fucking thought I wanted you back." before storming away.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	29. Just The usual

A/N: I meant to do this last chapter, but I forgot. But the idea of Kate writing on Kidd was SevenSins idea . . . that was fun to write and i was glad to find a place to put her idea.

I'm never closed to taking ideas if I can fit them in.

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Only when he was out of sight did she show signs of pain, letting out a few curses and looking at Killer and grumbling none too happily, "You were supposed to stop him."

Killer just shook his head as Kate continued to gape at him in shock, still holding her face, eyes begging him to explain, facial expression questioning why he didn't try and stop Kidd from the obvious attack. "You deserved that. You initiated it." He tried explaining to her.

"But you were supposed to stop him from hurting me." She whined.

"I'm sorry Kate." He said in monotone, not sounding sorry at all, not even to himself. But what else could he say? Kidd had been asking for it, Kate had given it and Kidd had to have the last word, the last laugh, the last smirk, the final say, it rarely mattered what last thing he had, he just had to have the last.

"No you're not!" Kate exclaimed, loudly declaring the obvious.

Rolling his eyes Killer simply walked away saying, "I'm sorry you think that."

Like usual Kate pouted, sulking alone in a quiet spot. This time that quiet spot was the figurehead of the ship. For a while she watched the ocean in every which position, sitting legs crossed and then uncrossed, one dangling off the side, both legs dangling over the sides. She tried lying on her back, her stomach, upside down and, curled up. But after all of that Kate turned to watch her fellow crewmates do whatever. However she had to turn around just in time to catch Kidd coming down off of his throne- literally! - Just her luck really. They held each other's gazes as Kidd slowly descended the stairs and headed blow deck. Just to spite him Kate pointed to herself, made a heart with her hands and pointed at Kidd before blowing him a soft kiss.

In response he flipped her off and sent a few of the crew's weapons flying towards her. Wire's trident succeeded in landing only inches from her currently crossed legs, bringing with it surprise and the words 'holy shit'. She tugged the weapon out of the figurehead and returned the sole weapon that hadn't fallen into the water, to its owner and decided to practice her acrobatics. First from the rail of the quarterdeck but after almost landing on a one too pleased Head, Kate started climbing up to the crow's nest to practice.

Killer dragged her to dinner once more hours later and things seemed normal enough. Kidd tried to kill her with the silverware and Kate flung mugs, glasses, food and plates at Kidd in return. Killer wound up dragging her back out of the galley by the back of his shirt- Kidd's jacket still rested over the edge of the crow's nest.

Killer didn't bother lecturing her, just told her to go wash up and to stay out of Kidd's way for the remainder of the day. Kate took a nice long shower without any interruptions before, during or after it. Kate didn't go out of her way to obey Killer, to avoid Kidd but that was how things had worked themselves out, which was good enough for all three parties.

It was dark now and she had returned to her place on the figure head after her shower, and was slowly sipping a bottle of something or rather as she watched the moon rise and the stars move across the black velvet sky. The lookout was sleeping rather loudly, making it just him and her on the deck. She laughed out loud when she realized that things were conveniently set up just like when Killer had gotten kidnapped. Well they were now on the open sea, and days from any island in either direction, and she really hoped that nothing eventful would happen tonight.

Half a bottle, a lot of time, sips and thoughts later there was a screeching cry of a bird as a flurry of black, white and green almost knocked Kate off the figurehead in surprise. Though for Kidd it might have been better if the thing to actually succeed in knocking her into the dark churning water below her. Kate thought as she regained her balance none too soon.

"Yui." Lila said interrupting a meeting with the leader of one of the districts of his islands. He shot her an annoyed look wondering why she couldn't wait, what was so important that it couldn't be held off for another 30-60 minutes. "Don't give me that look." She snapped at him then continued on. "Pardon my interruption." She said to the middle-aged man, who was only under Yui in terms of power. "But I was wondering if we could hire a mage or something."

"A mage?" Both men asked, Yui trying to figure out Lila's intentions before they were made clear or explained.

"Yeah, or a potion maker. No I need a potion maker." Lila declared, looking expectantly at both of the men.

"Can we discuss this later?" he politely tried.

"Of course not. I figured that he could spread the word on his way out." She said pulling out a chair and turning it around before sitting on it, resting her chin on the top of the backrest. Sense it had only been a week sense she had been unveiled to the islands to be Yui's 30th (and final) bride, this was the only free time she had managed to fit in. it wasn't her fault that it was inconvenient for her hubby to be, she was a busy woman and he was a busy man. But seeing as she wasn't officially his bride yet the empress and no longer 'head servant' person, she had no authority over the comings and goings of any of the guards or people that she had worked next to known as maids or butlers. Now she knew why Lady Kate detested the dress fitting, cake testing, shoe picking out, color choosing, guess choosing or anything else that came with the putting together of their ceremony. Luckily she was very in tuned to what Yui liked- even though he had told her to pick things that she liked too.

"What do you need?" the guy other than Yui cut in as Yui opened his mouth to begin talking.

"I need a love potion." Lila let that sink in before quickly cutting Yui off once again. "I'm not questioning out love Ma- Yui." She was now making an effort to not call him Master Yui, but old habits die hard.

"Then whose love is in question?" He coolly asked, obviously doubting her words.

"Remember that pirate lady you tried and failed miserably to make your 29th bride?" Lila asked with a smile.

"How could I forget?" Yui dryly responded. They were still cleaning up the messes. The tile floorings were now fixed, the bodies had been buried and a ceremony held for the dead nobles. He had a broken arm, and shattered, fractured and torn a lot of other things- there were too many injuries to name. The marines and World Government had become involved, taking pictures; the paper was distributed to more than the people of his fifteen districts, and raising the bounties of the pirates- which was exactly what the criminals wanted as well as Lady Kate. But Yui didn't want to try and understand why she was bringing them up, but was sure he was going to find out rather soon.

"Well it's for her. I mean look at the guy she hopelessly and obviously didn't mean to fall for. Eustass Kidd, one of the Supernovas. He's the top Supernova, who's killed a bunch of-"

"I get it." He stopped her impressive list of the things that the redheaded pirate had done.

"Do you?" Lila instantly snapped at him when he interrupted her.

"Yes. You're attempting to help the love life of. . . .An acquaintance." The was the kindest word that he could come up with when referring to Kate.

Lila humorously laughed. "Attempting? No, I'm going to help them Master. And I'm only returning the favor. Lady Kate or Kidd, one of the two- if not both- helped out love get off the ground. And they each need more help them you ever did."

"And if I forbid you?" He questioned.

"Are you speaking to me as the emperor or as my husband?" Lila sneered at him with a sarcastic smile, and fake sweetness. He had better answer this correctly.

With a sigh of annoyance from Yui, Lila's smile dropped and she became serious, noticing how he wasn't in the mood anymore. "Both." He answered. "But even if I forbade you, would it deter you even a bit?"

"Nope." She still popped the 'p' with a shake of his head.

Yui sighed yet again and turned to the other person in the room with them. "I want you to find a potion maker, tell them that we'll pay whatever price as long as it's not too steep-"

"Like our first child or ownership of a district. But jewels, that we can-" A look from Yui silenced Lila with the words 'yes master' being murmured as she looked down at the floor.

Yui let out a single curse. He was going to break her of that habit. After all he couldn't have his bride calling him master, or being unwilling to go against his word- not that there had ever been a problem with that last thing. "If that is all you need to discuss, you are dismissed."

"It is." The middle aged man confirmed with a nod before they both stood and diplomatically shook hands.

"Then begin issuing the search for the potion maker." Yui said before the man departed. Once gone Lila let out a happy squeal and threw her arms around his neck.

Not half a day and only a few fakes, after the official search was issued to all fifteen districts a little blue haired, purple eyed girl no older than seven years of age showed up on the front steps with an appropriately colored red glass bottle with a long neck and circular base. Once she had proven that it did indeed work Yui handed it off to Lila. It took a little effort to figure out what the little girl wanted as her prize but eventually they found out that her mommy was really sick and that was why she had traveled by herself to the castle. Yui knowing that Lila would kill him if he didn't do so sent out the best doctors in the castle and sent them and the little girl on their ways. "Happy?" He asked turning to his soon to be bride.

She planted a half smile, half kiss on his lips before saying, "Very." And then dancing off. She wrote a quick letter to Kate, slipped it, the instructions that had come with the bottle into a pouch, the neck sticking out, before attaching it to a messenger bird and sending it off. She really hoped that this would help the pirate couple.

Kate finally saw the bag and after putting her bottle in the middle of her crossed legs, took it. The damn bird squawked at her before flapping off. She stuck her tongue out at its retreating form before opening the bag. She found that there was a letter, another piece of paper and the bottle thing.

The pretty cursive letters and words were hard to make out in the dark of the night, but Kate managed by squinting at the white paper and blank ink in order to read it and it read;

Dear Lady Kate,

I sincerely hope that your rather aggressive captain has yet to kill you and that you are in good health. Since you helped Yui and I, we decided to send this love potion your way. Put it to good use honey, we all know that you need the help.

Love Lila.

Kate read it several times before laughing and began reading the single piece of paper that had big bold betters on the top that for some reason said 'DO NOT INJEST DIRECTLY', which Kate found quite weird coming from a love potion. The paper continued to go on about how the person would remember everything that was said and or done during the period of time in which they were intoxicated- Kate wondered why the person chose the word intoxicated since they were obviously going to be poisoned, not drunk. It also went on to say that it was best to be slipped into some kind of food or drink. And finally at the bottom it read;

Warning: May alter personality, emotional and mental states.

Laughing Kate spun around, slipped off the figurehead and skipped to her and Killer's room. Like usual Kate was the first on in bed, though she hadn't a clue as to where Killer was at this time, or even what time it was. Kate hid the letters under the mattress and then his the bottle elsewhere, trying to spin a plan that would actually work as well as an excuse, something that Kidd would believe if he caught her or something.

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A/N: I hope the switching back to Lila and Yui didn't confuse anybody . . . sorry for the abrupt change.

But I hope I now makes since.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	30. Unnatural

"Happy birthday!" someone shouted far too close to his head. Kidd bolted upright ready to more than kill whoever it was who had shouted, only to find Kate standing there looking as innocent as ever, a tray of steaming hot food in her hands and a genuine smile on her face.

"The fuck?" Kidd asked. The only thing that looked about this situation was the steaming hot food. It meant that he didn't have to fucking get up and walk all the way to the galley or worry about telling someone to do it for him. But Kate, she just looked damn suspicious.

"It's you're birthday. . .right?" the smile on her face faltered as if she were now unsure of herself, as if she might be regretting having come into his dim quarters in the first place.

"No."

"So does that mean that you don't want to enjoy breakfast in bed?" She pouted, ticking out her bottom lip and making it quiver with large blue eyes aimed at him.

"No." Kidd wasn't about to pass this up, or waste the food.

The smile on Kate's instantly returned and she said, "Good. I made it myself." As she put the makeshift tray on his lap he noted that she sounded proud of herself.

Now Kidd wasn't too sure that he wanted to eat it, especially if Kate had made it. Somehow Kidd just couldn't imagine Kate standing in a kitchen, let alone the kitchen of his ship, let alone in front of any oven, his or not. However if he were to imagine Kate in a kitchen he could easily see black smoke billowing up from the pot or pan on the oven, holding a spatula and grinning ear to ear thinking that she was going great. But that imagery certainly didn't match that of the still steaming, slightly undercooked eggs, crispy bacon, toast, single pancake or sausage links now resting on his lap. "And you expect me to eat it?" Hadn't she been mad at him or something a few nights ago? They had had one of their usual 'fights' and Kate had been making herself scarce here lately and where the hell had she gotten the idea that it was his birthday? It wasn't until January, it was only September.

"Don't give me that look, it's perfectly safe to eat. Killer and the chef both watched over me." With those meant to be comforting words Kate noticed how unconvinced Kidd looked so she picked up the fork and took a bite out of the large pile of scrambled eggs and through a mouthful asked, "See? Safe." Kate had stopped cooking when Killer had left and since she hadn't used the skill in for so long had forgotten most of what she used to know, which was a shame really. But being back in the kitchen had been a nostalgic feeling, having Killer in the kitchen with her just added to the feeling. He was the better cook of the two.

Still dubious Kidd didn't respond for a few minutes, all the while carefully watching Kate, waiting for her to drop dead, or something of the sort to occur at his bedside where she stood. But the only thing the small blonde managed to do was to put the fork down and then proceed to crawl over his legs and plop down near the foot of his bed, and then stare expectantly at him At the moment she reminded him of a curious animal yet again.

After being told that not only had Singe, the chef, and Killer, his first mate, had supervised Kate's cooking, Kidd admittedly felt better about willingly eating anything near, let alone actually on the tray Kate had brought him. It meant that it wasn't poisoned- the eggs at least weren't. It also explained why she hadn't killed herself with her own cooking when she had taken a bite. And it also explained why the food now warming his lap looked appealing.

"So is it good?" she earnestly asked leaning forwards eagerly the moment she watched the lump of food slide down his throat. She looked anxious yet somewhat guarded- though she wasn't guarding her expression, body from attack or her emotions very well.

Kidd was so tempted to just be an asshole, to flip the tray and start cursing at her just to see her reaction, to watch her aquamarine colored eyes widen and fill with tears as she ran out, only after retaliating in some way shape or form. But since it was so early in the morning, Kate was smiling and bothering him but with breakfast and the day had yet to go all wrong, and the said breakfast wasn't as bad as he had expected, Kidd decided not to be an asshole, decided that he'd be nice- as not to waste the food he told himself.

When he said 'it's good enough' Kidd hadn't expected Kate to squeal a word of thanks, he hadn't expected her to launch her small body at him, almost toppling both of them and the tray on his lap between them. He didn't expect Kate to wrap her arms around his neck or for her to kiss him full on the mouth. Kidd also didn't expect her to settle back into her spot and to stay in that spot after he growled "Fuck off."

"Nope." She reached forwards, evading the fork and snatched a piece of bacon off the plate on the tray. She happily munched on the strip with a smile. "So do you really like it?" She had practiced really hard for the past few days without the chef's help- and using Killer as a willing taste tester until she had managed to get everything only one hundred percent perfect for Kidd by Killers standards, which she wholeheartedly trusted.

"True, well I'm glad." They talked a little bit but Kidd mostly ate and she mostly watched him. Kate mostly chatted, stealing small bites of food and downing the cup of milk in which he hadn't touched. However unlike the untouched by Kidd cup of milk, the orange juice was almost gone.

When he was done she slid off the bed, hugged him and with a smile said, "Good morning captain. I hope the rest of the rest of your day is just as good." And with that she took the tray and skipped out, leaving Kidd nothing more than dumbfounded and maybe even speechless.

Kate's behavior had always been . . . strange to say the least. But this . . . it was abnormal, even for her. Not wanting to think about it Kidd got up and then dressed.

Kate skipped through the galley and into the kitchen with a broad smile. How could she not be smiling? Everything had gone according to plan and Kidd suspected nothing!

"Did Captain like it?" Singe asked her as she happily washed the dirty dishes. He was a large man like every other crew member on the ship, with broad shoulders, droopy red eyes with large bags under them. His skin was lightly tanned and his black hair was limp and only reached the tops of his shoulders at best.

"Loved it. He at everything!" she exclaimed. He had never seen someone wash and try dishes so happily. She finished and skipped out only to run into Killer who had just opened the door of the kitchen.

Kate bounded straight into him smiling like an idiot even as she tumbled back. Catching his baby sister he asked, "Did it go well?" For some reason Kate had taken up the sudden interest in cooking once again. She suddenly had the strong desire to make Kidd breakfast in bed so he had helped her in the ways he knew how without just doing it himself. And why shouldn't he? If he watched over her and helped he could make sure that no harm would come to Kidd; and what was the harm of him receiving breakfast in bed?

She vigorously nodded, smile still unshaken as she said, "Very."

Seeing that he wasn't going to get any more of an answer from her he ruffled her hair and said, "I'm glad." And with those words she ducked under his arm and ran off.

Much like Kate hadn't been seen during the two weeks, Kidd wasn't seen that day, causing some concern. Killer knew that the only way Kidd would go to Doc. for help- if he were even in need of it- was if it were forced upon him. However he hadn't been showing signs of sickness last time he had seen him. So Killer went to check on him only to find his captain sleeping rather soundly in his bed. He checked for a fever but Kidd's forehead felt fine so he left assuming that he had A) not slept very well last night, B) hadn't gotten a very good night's sleep or C) was hung over. Though the last one was the least likely because not only did it take a lot for Kidd to get hung-over but also he didn't smell of alcohol.

Kidd still didn't emerge from his room as the day drew closer and closer to a close. If Kidd didn't wake by tomorrow he was going to be forced to question Kate who had been the last one to see their captain awake and what condition he had been in. He checked on Kate's condition, which was sprawled out on his bed, uncovered limbs hanging over the edge. So he maneuvered her body and the blankets so that she was fully covered. Once satisfied he left the room and with a sigh decided to take over lookout duty around midnight. Checking on his sister was an old habit that had returned when Kate had.

All was quiet until about ten, which was about the time Kate burst onto the deck shouting, "It's coming!" before running wildly around the deck.

Waking up with a body next to hers wasn't strange or that uncommon, after all she usually shared it with Killer. But it was strange to wake up with a pair of arms wrapped around her with slow steady breath blowing into her ear and that said body spooning hers. Because if any part of Killer was ever pressed against her it was their backs or an awry limb- be it an arm or a leg, it was usually she who invaded his space.

She managed to roll over in the person's arms. They certainly did not belong to her older brother, the nails were painted, the arms too thick and the skin too pale. Turning over only confirmed her suspicions. "Pssst." She hissed wrestling an arm free and poking her redheaded captain in the cheek. "Captain? What are you doing in mine and Killers bed?" It was strange he hadn't been seen or heard anywhere on the ship yesterday, she had found that she had actually missed him just a small bit. It had also made her wonder if that's how Kidd felt when she had made herself scarce. When had he even gotten there?! Better yet where was Killer? Why wasn't he sleeping next to her? Or had Kidd kicked him out of the bed? Well whatever it was it was unnatural to wake up next to Kidd like this. "Kidd?" She jabbed his face with her finger once more, harder than the first few times. Kate was just waiting for his eyes to pop open and for him to jerk away from her, releasing her from the embrace, and to start cursing and shouting. But when nothing happened she continued poking his face. "I'd really like to get up now." She really had to pee and Kidd's grip on her was really tight. Kate had never taken him as the teddy bear or body pillow type even if he was such a great guy to hug, but his hold on her begged to differ. Finally his eyelids fluttered and opened, revealing misty crimson eyes. "Finally captain." She said in an exasperated voice. "Mind explaining why you're in my bed?"

"Morning babe." He said with an uncharacteristically soft and sweet smile as though he hadn't just heard her question.

Babe!? Kate's mind reeled at the word and spun at the mere thought of it having come from Kidd's mouth. At the word babe Kate began pushing against his chest, struggling to get away from him, trying to put distance between their pressed together bodies. Babe, he had sincerely called her babe. "K-kid?" She asked just before she disappeared over the edge of the bed. Why hadn't he started laughing yet? Why had she slipped so easily out of his arms? "A-a-a-are you al-alright?" she stammered peeking over the side of the bed at him. He looked normal enough, red hair, strong body, pale skin, dark lips and those god awful pants. But that was where normal seemed to stop.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Why do you ask?" he responded looking like an over grown child as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

For the life of him he couldn't figure out why she was crouched at the bedside peering over its edge at him as if he were some kind of three headed, four eyed freak. As if he had sprouted several extra limbs.

"Because I-I-you-If I slapped you what would you do to me?" She wound up asking, her wide eyes narrowing. Was she testing him? And if so what for?

"I'd ask you what was that for." At his answer Kate began choking on what appeared to be air.

Not a single curse word, no narrowed red eyes, he didn't even sound threatening; his tone didn't imply that he would hit, kick, punch, bite or choke her. Let's test that theory. Kate thought, the idea of Kidd being a REALLY good actor crossed her mind as she stood and got close enough to him and followed through with her plan. She smacked him, right across the face . . . well she kindda wound up backhanding him figuring that would invoke more anger, more of a reaction frommeaning of the word charisma him, get Kidd back to normal.

The sound was clear and sharp, like a single person clapping in an empty room. It took everything Kate had to stay rooted to the spot at her bedside, within arms distance , to not take off running out of the room.

"What was that for?!" He asked in what appeared to be shock cupping his cheek with one of his hands. A drop of blood blossomed on his bottom lip, slowly creeping towards the pale flesh under the painted dark skin.

Again no curse, no violent reaction, no angry- well he looked slightly peeved, but that was it- just shock and a split lip. Kate found that she couldn't even get any satisfaction out of the fact that she had split Kidd's lip. Last test. She thought to herself, ignoring his question as he had hers. If he failed this one . . . well Kate didn't know what she'd do. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she asked, "If I told you to get rid of those god awful pants and wear the jeans I got you, would you do that?"

Kidd was supposed to say 'fuck no!' but he only shrugged. "Why not."

That was it! Kate couldn't get out of her and Killer's room fast enough. She couldn't get away from the person who she had woken up next to, the person whose lips she had split. Kate refused to call that redhead who had called her babe, the man who hadn't knocked a tooth or two out because she had slapped him Kidd.

When Kate ran out screaming like a mad woman he expected Kidd to storm onto the deck, to be all ready to extract his revenge for whatever Kate had done to him this time. She had decided on hiding behind him, holding his shoulders and peeking over his shoulder from atop her tip-toes. "Kate." Killer slowly asked, keeping an eye on the door. He wondered that it was that she had done this time.

"Yes oniichan?" She whispered.

"What did you do?" Killer wondered if she had asked him a question that she shouldn't have, ir she had simply bothered him or if she had done something else to set their captain off.

"I woke up!" She exclaimed in a tone that asked 'what's so wrong with that?!'.

"And?" He pressed. There must be more to the story then her just waking up, something that she hadn't told him with those three short words.

"I slapped him but that's besides the point Killer. He's not acting normal."

"What do you mean not normal?" Was it something that needed immediate attention or was Kate just exaggerating?

"You'll see." She whispered, her grip on his shoulders tightened as Kidd walked out onto the deck. Kate watched Kidd exchange greetings with the crew, asking where she was- something he wouldn't usually do. Usually he'd hunt her down or die before asking for help. She watched him get closer and closer with each step. His expression wasn't angry, he wasn't storming around and he didn't tell Killer to get the fuck out of his way. "See?" Kate whispered into Killers ear.

While Kidd's current behavior wasn't consistent with his usual behavior it was nothing frightening or even concerning. Killer decided that Kate was just inflating something more then it needed to be. He wasn't seeing what the big deal was or why Kate was so afraid of Kidd now of all times to be afraid of him. Kidd's split lip might have something to do with it, it was rather odd that she'd run and hide because of that though. Usually Kate would be boasting that she had drawn blood, Kidd's blood and hadn't died yet.

"Do you need something Captain?" Killer asked as Kidd came to a stop a few feet before him.

To Kate's Kidd's cool demeanor was unsettling. The lack of anger was unnatural and the lack of violence and violent intent was just wrong!

"Yes, I would like to have a word with your sister." He said, not a hint of sarcasm or a sneer in his tone.

"Tell him to go away. I'm not here." Kate hissed at him, ducking behind his back.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	31. Slightly Guilty

"She's all yours." Killer said. There was no harm in talking and Kidd didn't appear to have any murderous intent or dark auras radiating off of him, plus Kate needed to realize that there was nothing to be afraid of at the moment. With those words Killer side stepped to reveal Kate, who spat the word 'traitor' at him as he left. She'd be fine, after all Kidd had actually yet to kill her. He was pretty sure that his captain had some kind of feelings towards Kate, even if he hadn't realized it yet.

Kate glared daggers at Killers retreating back. He had just fed her to the shark!

"I see you're not wearing my jacket." The redhead pointed out, the red mark she remembered having left him with had faded and the blood of the split lip had already clotted.

"Sorry I didn't get the chance to grab it while running out."

"Why'd you run?" He asked her as if the answer weren't obvious. As if he wouldn't have dare thought about laying a hand on her for having done slapped him silly.

"Seriously?!" She screeched. "You're sick. Go take a hot bath, get Singe to cook you some nice hot soup, get Doc. to get you some medicine and get lots of sleep. We'll talk in the morning."

"I feel fine. I'm not sick." He took a step forwards and she took one back. This continued until her back hit something solid, prohibiting any further retreating. He stepped too close and impulsively Kate grabbed his face with both of her hands and like he usually did to her, crushed their mouths together. She was desperate to find some shred of Kidd still in there somewhere. But when she asked for entrance into his mouth there was no resistance but instead immediate submission. Kidd had given in to her to easil- Kate jerked away at that, not wanting to finish the thought. With a frustrated growl Kate pushed past Kidd and grumbled 'whatever' at him in passing.

And even though he wasn't the immobile rock solid mass of flesh that she was used to Kidd being it didn't make his grip around her upper arm any less tight when he forced her to stop and turned her around to face him. "Where are you going?" He asked. They hadn't even started talking and he wanted to know why she had backhanded him. Kidd was sure that she had her reasons and so he wanted to know. Had he done something wrong or was it something else? He also wanted to know why she had just given him such a deep and rather forceful kiss and why she had kept backing away from him. But he couldn't get those answers if she didn't talk to him.

"I'm going back to bed. Is that alright with you?" She growled at him. It may have been noon and she may not have been awake for even an entire hour but it was all just too much, so she was going to go back to bed and hide under the covers. And maybe when she awoke then everything- namely Kidd- would be back to normal. A girl could always hope she couldn't she?

"I-I suppose." 'Kidd' stammered for the first time that Kate knew of and released her arm, looking taken aback by her harsh tone and vicious expression.

"Good." She snapped and slunk off below deck wanting nothing more than to fall asleep wrapped up in Kidd's jacket. His scent, that was one thing that hadn't changed, it was still the scent of blood, sweat, metal and faint hint of the soap he usually used. Flinging open the door to her and Killer's room she ended up colliding with a V of skin and surrounding black cloth. As she tumbled back the sound of smashing glass reached her ears as a rather cold liquid slashed onto her feet as her own voice was also heard. Upon regaining her balance with Killers help Kate looked at the ground between their feet then the shattered rose colored glass, and the watery liquid then back up at the familiar and expressionless blue and white striped mask, unsure about how she should feel and even more unsure of what she should do.

However her first instinct was flight, after all her brother wasn't a stupid man, he had probably already pieced together most- if not all- of the puzzle. But the shock kept her rooted to the spot. How had he found it? True it hadn't been hidden very well, just under the foot of the mattress along with the instructions and the letter Lila had sent her what had he been doing looking under the mattress? Or maybe it had created a lump or was sticking out and he had just happened to notice. Kate cursed whatever had let Killer find the items. The papers now lay in the puddle of love potion, soaking up the liquid and blurring its letters among the mess of broken glass.

"Kate." Her brothers voice finally came. But eve n then she found that she couldn't run. Maybe it was because she knew that even if she ran and hid for days on end that Killer wouldn't forget, that he'd eventually get the chance to lecture her, to interrogate her- whichever of the two would come first.

"Y-yes?" She eventually managed almost fearfully as she audibly gulped. His tone did not bode well. And even though Kate knew that Killer would not need to use violence to make her regret her actions or for him to get the answers out of her that he wanted she knew that he would be able to easily extract her reasons and those guilty emotions anyway.

"What did you do to Kidd?" Was his first question. So it was the interrogation that came first. He didn't ask what she had given her captain, from the rosy color of the glass, to the instructions and finally the letter from Lila, it was obvious as to what the liquid had been. However assuming things was dangerous so he wanted to set everything straight, to confirm his suspicions by getting the answers from Kate who, despite her best efforts, looked as scared as hell and even more guilty.

"Poisoned him." She admitted in a whisper, suddenly remembering the reason for Kidd's suddenly personality change. Damn, that explained a lot! How had she even forgotten in the first place?! Kate wondered to herself, but when she thought about the events following when she woke up it was rather plain to see how she had forgotten.

"With what?" Killer asked. His voice was more curious then angry and it certainly wasn't accusing. He did however sound serious, as though he simply wanted answers and expected to get them from her. That and he also sounded a bit disappointed, which was understandable even from her perspective.

"Breakfast." Kate told him the truth as she studied the floor afraid to look up, to face her brother even if she couldn't see what his expression was. It didn't help that she was a lousy lair when it came to lying to Killer. She also couldn't help that she instantly crumbled under his tone, she couldn't help but to give into his wishes of hearing the truth the first time. Because in the end resisting would just wind up a waste of time.

"Where?" Killer would have added more to the question but he knew that Kate knew exactly what the question was so he didn't have to elaborate anymore then he already had.

"Orange juice." Her weak voice became even smaller. Now she wished to actually go talk to Kidd. She'd much rather face him and his- thanks to her- weird behavior then to explain to Killer what she did and why she had done it. It was embarrassing to be honest.

"I see and what poison did you use?" Again he had a hunch. And even though the letter and instructions had spelled out what it was in big bold letters he still wanted to hear it come from Kate's mouth.

"A love potion. And before you ask why I'll just go ahead and explain." Kate muttered. She knew that the question 'why?' was going to follow the last one, after all Killer now knew what she had done and how, so next he'd want to know her intentions, her motivation behind having damaged their captain.

Actually Killer hadn't been about to ask why, there were only so many reasons one used a love potion. But despite this he let her continue.

"I love Kidd." Kate firmly admitted not only aloud and to her brother- who had once been against them going anywhere near each other- but also to herself. And she had to admit that it felt pretty good to finally fully recognize the fact.

A hand landed gently atop her shoulders as the words 'I know' were spoken.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She grumbled. She wouldn't have to have gone through this miraculous breakthrough if he had just told her once he had to come to realize her feelings for their captain.

Killer couldn't help but chuckle at his baby sister. Good she was still Kate, she hadn't managed to poison herself along with Kidd. He pulled her into a hug, resting his chin on the top of her head before saying, "I thought I wasn't allowed to tell who you could or couldn't sleep with, what you could or couldn't wear or who you could or couldn't love. If he had control over any of those things, especially the later her and Jarodeth would have never happened. And her and Kidd- well he didn't quite know how he felt about those two. Because as of yet Kate was the only one of the two who had recognized that there was indeed something between them.

"True." She muttered into his chest, returning the hug. "But you still should have told me."

"I apologize." Killer said releasing his sister and stepping around her and the glass mess.

"Good night." She said.

"Good night." He repeated back to her with an unseen roll of his eyes. Of course Kate would say good night at noon.

When she woke up the room was pitch black and even Killer was in the bed beside her. She rubbed at her eyes, no longer sleepy as she carefully slipped out of the bed, attempting not to wake her wonderful brother.

He had yet to actually lecture her and the interrogation hadn't been half bad either. It could have been worse. Just because Killer didn't yell when he was angry or upset in general it didn't mean that he was incapable of making her feel guilty. Hell usually the fewer words he said the worse she wound up feeling in the end. But the hug he had initiated had made her feel better instantly. Why? Well because just because she liked giving and receiving hugs especially to and from her brother (and on occasion Kidd) didn't mean that he liked giving hugs to her. Plus Killer wasn't the most emotional guy so the gesture meant a lot more than just a hug.

She was no longer tired but still wasn't in the mood to bounce around and there was no one awake to A) pester, B) talk to or C) enjoy the company of. She supposed star gazing was something to do. Or maybe she should go bother Kidd, see how he liked waking up with someone he didn't go to bed with in his bed. On that note Kate quietly skipped down the hallway to Kidd's dark room. Quietly she turned the knob, slowly opened the door and closed it without a click behind her before carefully picking her way over to his bed, bumping into and stepping on countless things, letting out small hisses of pain and surprise. But finally she made it to his bedside and began feeling around to make sure that she wasn't about to lie down on top of Kidd and to make sure that there was indeed space enough for her small body to occupy. She found that there was and pulled back the thick comforter and thin sheets before climbing in and snuggling up into the bedding.

Kate lay there on her back, hands folded on top of the covers and her stomach, waiting. She had no clue what time it was except for that it was dark- meaning that it could be twelve o'clock, three a.m. or even minutes before dawn. But whatever time it was she lay there drowning in her thoughts and the soft sound of Kidd sleeping besides her. When Kidd rolled over she paid no mind to the act simply because it was only natural for someone to roll over in their sleep.

However it wasn't natural for a sleeping person to prop themselves up on their elbows- an action in which Kate didn't notice. They also didn't have the tendency to smile down at half conscious, mostly thinking blondes. They also didn't open their dark colored mouths to ask coherent questions or to mock people. "My my what a surprise. What brings you here?"

Kate having been practically dead to the world until now jumped. The only thing that kept her on the bed was the arm that had somehow, magically appeared around her waist. "Holy shit!" Kate gasped her heart pounding loud in her ears, nearly popping out of her chest as it did so. She was supposed to be the one doing the surprising, not being the surprised! "D-don't do that to me!" she gasped still catching her breath with narrowed eyes. She was also wondering when Kidd had woken up, when he had even moved.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly.

His sincere tone made her feel guilty. Those two words would never pass through Kidd's lips had she not poisoned him. Had she not done so he could have never placed the words I'm and sorry next to each other in a sincere fashion. Now if he were sneering the two words after knocking a tooth out, breaking a bone or giving her some other injury or if he were mocking her then she could see him using the words together. Now that Kate though about it if she hadn't poisoned him then he'd have long since kicked her out of his rather warm and comfortable bed and onto the cold hard floor- she'd been there once and didn't want to return, not with god only knows what on his floor- and he'd have done it as roughly as possible.

"Well I don't accept it." She said partially to see his reaction but mostly because she didn't accept the sincere apology. And she wouldn't accept it until it came from his mouth when he was in his right mind- though it took a certain kind of out of your mind to be someone like Kidd.

He didn't growl anything such as 'why the fuck not?' at her in harsh angry tones, his eyes didn't narrow at her and no blows were delivered like she half wished would have happened.

"Why not?" He simply asked.

W-was Kidd pouting?! Kate wondered suddenly more alarmed then when he had said morning babe after waking up in her bed. Was he really using the tactic she usually used to attempt to sway Killer's answers, punishments or length of a lecture? The absolutely ridiculous idea yet still real occurrence made Kate want to burst out laughing. For god's sake Kidd was pouting! What wasn't laughable about that?

But despite that her answer came out without a trace of laughter. "Because you're not Kidd." The words she spoke were only partially true of course. Because even though he seemed to have lost his violent, sneering and rough nature, as well as over three-fourths of his pride- well ego at least- and his average grrr aura that usually surrounded him, pale flesh still wrapped around tissue, bone and muscle, dark lips still moved when he spoke, red hair and crimson eyes were still uniquely his, painted nails still tipped each finger and he had yet to ditch those god awful pants of his.

"Am too." He replied, sounding more like herself then Kidd. But then again in what world did Kidd start the day with morning babe?! She was still hung up over the fact that he had called her babe.

"Then prove it." Kate hissed up at him daring him to not accept the challenge. She couldn't help herself. After all if he was still Kidd like the redheaded, red eyed man above her claimed to be then he'd accept not only her challenge but wouldn't even consider blowing it off or not accepting it.

With a quiet "I will." Kidd gently lowered his lips to hers in slow motion cracking them open just as slowly against hers and oh so nicely sneaking his tongue into her mouth. Again there were no mad scrambles for dominance, no hair pulling or skin peeling, there was nothing even remotely Kidd like in the kiss.

Pulling away from the sweet, slow and pleasant kiss Kate asked, "Exactly whose point are you trying to prove?" It certainly wasn't his. Not with the way his arm circled around her waist pulling her closer, not with the way he wasn't attacking any vulnerable part of her body and most certainly no with that display of tender loving kindness.

"Mine." He answered with a 'who else's point would I be proving?' tone of voice.

"Well I hate to tell you this but you're only proving my point. You see Kidd would bite me, he'd sink his claws into my flesh and he'd make me bleed and not stop when I say stop. He leaves tender bruises that last weeks-"

"Isn't that painful?" He interrupted her.

If Kate weren't in the middle of being dead serious then she'd have burst out laughing. She'd think that Kidd's nice twin had done something to the evil one and decided to replace him. However having been the one to get rid of the mean Kidd, she knew all too well that this was the same guy. The question coming from his mouth though was just too damn ironic! "Yes it does." She quickly stopped the words 'but I like it' from attaching themselves to the end of the sentence. "He also pinches and slaps as well as binds, and not to mention he'd very-"

"May I kiss you again?" Kidd interrupted her yet again. He figured that she wouldn't appreciate him just kissing her mid-sentence and he didn't want to get slapped again, so asking was the best way right? But what if she said no? He wondered but before he could begin to worry about that she exhaled her consent. After a soft, shudder inducing kiss on her neck- a place he knew she liked- he pulled back and looked down and after a second of studying her in the almost nonexistent light asked, "Do you want me to be rough?" She had said that she liked all of those things she was claiming that he had to her- which he would continuously deny. And since his goal was to please her if she let him then he'd be rough if that was what she really wanted. If she wanted him to break skin, to make her bleed and scream then he'd do those things, but only if she really wanted them.

She seemed to have to think for a moment before slowly, in an unsure voice say, "No, I don't think I do."

The sex that night/morning- Kate didn't quite know- was tender, it was relaxed and soft. Hell it wasn't even just sex, it was sweet love making. Instead of scraping nails and teeth impressions there were soft caresses. Instead of doing what she didn't want to was unwilling to try there were several 'do you like this?' or 'how about that's' whispered into her ear when his mouth stayed above her neck. The most bizarre, out of character, thing that he did was that when the words 'I love you' slipped he returned the words. He had even called her beautiful- something she knew that Kidd had never called any of his whores before during or after sex.

When Kate opened her eyes the next day she was greeted with a similar situation as yesterday morning. Only she didn't have to pee, the room, bed and situation were different too and they were naked. And Unlike yesterday she was not the first to wake.

Beside him Kate looked like an angel with her delicate features and shaggy white blonde hair. The arm that wasn't under her head held the dark sheets to her chest. And when her aquamarine colored eyes fluttered open a smiled graced her face as she reached out and wrapped him in a hug whispering the words "Morning babe." before planting that smile on his lips.

Kate wanted nothing more than to repeat everything after Kidd asking to kiss her for a second time. Oh how she wished, but she couldn't enjoy 'nice' Kidd to his full capacity if they just rolled around in his bed all day. "Come one, get dressed. It's time to start the day." No doubt over half of it was wasted already.

Oh well.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	32. Questions and Threats

Killer heaved a sigh when he woke up in an empty bed around eight o'clock. There was one of two places in which Kate might be. One being the deck or two Kidd's bed though he was betting on the later of the two. Though if they were in fact doing anything other than sleeping he had to give them some credit, he hadn't been woken up to screams or thumps or any other sounds, which might be concerning if those two were going at it.

He only had to wait a few hours till lunch where he sat there eating his pasta in solitary peace. When he was half way done with said lunch around two thirty the doors were flung nosily open and a blonde skipped in the words 'found him!' filled the otherwise empty room and his ears making him flinch at the sudden unexpected noise.

"Morning big brother!" Kate practically sang swinging her and Kidd's intertwined hands around like crazy and Kidd was tolerating the act. She plopped her ass right next to him and began kicking her feet back in fourth.

At first Killer wondered what the hell was wrong with Kidd. But then he remembered that there was a love potion added into the usual equation of Kate+Kidd= trouble. "Good afternoon Kate." He greeted putting emphasis on the evening part of the greeting before turning his attention back to his food. As of now there was nothing to report to Kidd, nothing worth his concern at least and at the moment he didn't feel inclined to talk to Kate.

"Whattcha doin'?" She asked maneuvering Kidd so that he sat in a chair before she slipped off the table and into Kidd's lap. She sat across it and still swung her feet.

"Eating." He simply responded. But after a few minutes and a couple of bites as well as Kate just sitting there, in silence with a weaponless, jacketless, Kidd, not talking just . . . yes, snuggling appeared to be what his captain and his sister were doing, Killer had had enough and got both of their attention with just Kate's name. And when they looked expectantly at him he said, "Go take separate showers." He felt the need to verify that, knowing Kate and having seen the effects of the poison he doubted that they'd have any qualms about sharing the shower.

"Why?" Kate asked.

Killer rolled his eyes, an action unseen; of course she'd question why he thought they each needed to clean themselves. At least this time it wasn't his bed. Well she had asked for the reason so he told her. "Because you two sell like sex." He wasn't sure if they had actually done anything but the cuddling, snuggling and, unnatural silence was starting to bother him and that was one way to get them out, or so he hoped.

Kate's face turned a shade of bright red and then she was out of Kidd's lap and out of the galley before anyone else could say anything else.

He knew! Kate thought as she lifted her arm to her nose and took a whiff. She smelled of sweat and faintly of a combination of her soap and Kidd's bed but not of sex, not really at least. How had Killer known that they had indulged in the act of sex?! Or had he simply had a hunch that she had just confirmed?! Kate didn't know but she was going to obey her older brother either way. She didn't want anyone else thinking that she smelled like sex, no matter how faint or nonexistent the smell really was.

Killer found that when Kidd wasn't in the presence of Kate the only effect of the potion was that he was simply a calmer, more rational version of his captain. However within her presence –as he had just witnessed- Kidd was . . . weird . . .no that wasn't the right word at all. Weird wasn't a strong enough word to describe the strangeness.

Once Kate had ran out Kidd sat back and in a relaxed manner asked, "Do we really-"

"No. Her staring as well as her unusual silence was getting to me." Killer explained to his captain. Kate's silence hadn't been the only thing the potion induced oddity. There was also Kate's bright, truly happy, I can't do anything besides smile like an idiot smile and, the way Kidd was tolerating all of the behaviors Kate knew Kidd would usually beat her for, the things she knew she could get away with at the moment.

Kidd just kind of chuckled and said, "That's right. You know it's been a while since I've seen her smile like that." As if reading his mind. The only time Kidd could really remember having seen that smile on Kate's face was when he found her clinging to his first mate the day she first arrived on his ship.

Killer nodded once in agreement and then said, "I want you to stop all of the cutesy, gentle stuff you've been doing today, stop holding her hand and being so unusually gentle. Stop making her smile so brightly. If-"

"Why?" Kidd asked him. Wasn't it a good thing that Kate was so happy, that she was smiling so brightly? "Anyway you can't tell me what I can and cannot do. I'm the captain and you're the first mate." Kidd bluntly pointed out as if Killer wasn't aware of their status on the ship, sounding more like his old self.

It wasn't that Killer didn't like how happy Kate appeared to be this morning. But that potion wasn't going to last forever and he had a feeling that it wouldn't slowly wear off. Killer only had Kate's best interest in mind. She could one night go to sleep in Kidd's bed- not that he was encouraging it but it was going to happen- with a snuggly and smiley Kidd and then the next morning wake up to the usual pissed off and scowling Kidd, and after that she'd end up a bleeding mess in the infirmary and would take a while to recover. And as much as Killer wanted his baby sister to be happy and to enjoy the effects of the potion, he didn't want Kate to have to suffer its aftermath.

"I'm aware. However Kate is my sister and as often as I pick her up after a fight I don't want to pick up the broken pieces." Killer could hardly believe that he was having this conversation let alone having it with Kidd. But he wasn't sure about Kidd's feelings towards Kate and he didn't know for sure how Kidd would react after getting back into his right mind.

"You won't have to." Kidd said sounding confident in his answer to him.

"Don't be so sure." Killer warned. Sure she didn't seem too devastated about Jarodeth but he had betrayed her, he had wronged her and had deserved what he had received and all of them knew it. But Kidd, when it wore off he wasn't just going to be dead and gone like Jarodeth he wasn't going to be unable to hurt her like Jarodeth hadn't been able to do after Killer had taken care of him.

"Oh and why not?" Kidd challenged with narrowed eyes, looking more like his usual self.

"Because I know Kate." Killer then felt the need to elaborate on what he meant. "And you don't. You know nothing about her or the things she does or doesn't like. You don't know her weird quirks or the things that make her blow. You don't know her deepest darkest fears and secrets. You don't know about her past or anything else about my sister." Killer was trying to drive his point home by making a small list of the things that he knew that Kidd didn't know about Kate. And he finished by saying, " You don't know her like I do." He couldn't help but get defensive, after all the only thing Kidd knew about Kate was how to make her tick, how to push her buttons and at times that wasn't too hard of a thing to do.

"You're right, I don't. But that doesn't mean that I can't find out." Kidd said standing and heading out.

"She's showering." Killer stopped him with his voice; sure that after the way she had ran out of the otherwise empty galley, her face scarlet that she was in the process of scrubbing herself raw.

"How long until the next island?"

"Depending on the weather and if nothing goes wrong I'd say between seven and nine days." He answered. The winds hadn't been that strong so it was slow sailing for the past few days.

Kidd smiled at him and said, "Then I have seven to nine days to get to know Kate to your satisfaction." Then continued walking out.

"Kidd." Killer stopped him once more unable to help but think that he sounded like Kate, immature and determined. Sure Kate wasn't the most mature person on the ship but Kate's level of maturity certainly left something to be desired and it wasn't exactly a good thing that Kidd had dropped down to Kate's level if even for just a moment.

"What?" Kidd snapping at him brought him out of his thoughts.

"If you don't heed my warnings, if you keep encouraging Kate then you had better not hurt her when you come to, when you return to your usual self. Do you understand me?" He couldn't lose Kate, that's why he had left her at home when he had set out, it was safe and familiar. At home she couldn't get shipwrecked or starve, she was safer than with him- or that's what he had told himself.

"And if I don't?" Kidd challenged once more sounding like himself.

"Then I might not be able to restrain myself. If you hurt her I'll hurt you." Killer was serious. He knew that threatening his captain was not a smart idea and that he'd remember this conversation as it was. But still he felt like he had to protect his sister, especially from Kidd.

"I understand." He said calmly, not launching anything at him, not throwing a Kidd sized tantrum or saying how that threatening him was some kind of crime- which it was. Kidd should be lecturing him about how he needed to pick his loyalties and pick them wisely. But to be honest he didn't know who he'd choose if forced to make the decision. And with those two words Kidd walked out not retaliating to his threat in any way shape or form. As surprised as Killer was, he had to remind himself that the unusual behavior wasn't by choice, his choice at least.

Kate walked down the hall, towel over her head, drying her hair as she headed towards her and Killer's room. She was humming a little tune that Killer had made up to soothe her some nights, with a second towel that was slipping as she neared the door wrapped tightly around her body. Instead of dressing in Killer's usual shirt she found the white one she had originally showed up in and the pants that Killer had given her permission to modify. She slipped into the clothes, finished drying her hair, threw the two towels onto the bed and walked out trying to figure out what exactly she wanted to do only to turn around and head back into the room.

Kidd was lounging in his office, deep in thought, trying to figure out how to ask Kate to tell him everything about her. He had realized that his first mate was right; he knew almost nothing about Kate besides her love of fun, pain, Killer and questions. He knew that she sleep walked and that she liked acrobatics but that was about it. And now he thought about it she knew nothing about him either. Well the small blonde did know how to push his buttons. Killer did have an unfair advantage though and there was no way he'd get to know the girl as well as he did after twenty something years and of course experience in seven to nine days. But he'd be damned if he didn't try.

"Hey sweetie!" A voice chirped bringing him back to reality as the door was opened with a rather loud bang and in bounded the blonde who had just been on his mind.

Kicking his feet off the top of his desk Kidd leaned forwards and asked, "Do you want to play a game honey?" He knew that she liked things fun and games were fun. . .or at least he'd try.

She stopped short, the jeans in hand falling form her hand. Kate asked him to repeat himself. Not only did he appear to genuinely want to play a game, but he had also just used another pet name and this time it was honey. She wondered what name would be next. But her focus went back to Kidd and his words. "A-a . . . game?" She repeated back to him. Was she dreaming?! She had to be, Kidd wanted to play a game with her and he had been the one to suggest it! When he nodded she couldn't help but be suspicious and cautiously ask, "What kind of game?"

"A get to know you game." He simply answered her.

"Me? You actually want to know some things about me?" Kate's mind would have been blown had it not been for the words 'morning babe' and yesterday. There was simply nothing left to blow.

Again he nodded saying, "Yes." as he stood and walked around the side of the deck. He even picked up the pair of plain jeans and pressed them back into her arms. "I realized that I knew nothing about you and you know nothing about me. So I decided to turn it into a game of sorts." He hadn't the slightest clue as to how to make questions into a game but he was sure Kate would have a few things up her sleeves.

"You know that I love my brother." She said aloud while her thoughts scrambled to find things that she knew for sure about Kidd or for the things that he did know about her.

"Yes but that doesn't count." He told her. Even a stranger could tell, hell a blind stranger would know that if they saw Kate and Killer together.

"Oh, and why not?"

"Because it's obvious. But I want to know your darkest secrets and fears."

"No. I aint telling you those!" Kate exclaimed handing the jeans back to him and absentmindedly saying, "Here put these on." Once having successfully handing them off she turned her back to Kidd assuming that he wouldn't bother waiting till he got to his room to change but instead would do so right in front of her.

The conversation however didn't stop as she heard him changing out of those wretched yellow and black things and into the simply jeans. "But I still don't know your favorite color-"

"It's neon colors. I can never pick one." She interrupted. "But I know your favorite color is red." Red was the color of blood, of his eyes, of rage love, the fur on his jacket and of course his hair.

"It is." He confirmed. He was starting at the most basic things, or he planned to at least.

"Before we continue this conversation I want to know what brought this on. What made you realize how little we actually know about each other and that you want to know and understand . . . me." Kate felt herself blush as she trailed off.

"Nothing in particular." Kidd lied. He wasn't about to tell Kate that her brother was to thank for the inspiration, for the want to have Kate reveal more than just her physical self to him.

"Oh, I see. Well why don't we play spin the bottle or something like twenty questions or two truths and a lie- oh let's play that last one!" She wanted to play two truths and a lie but maybe she'd decide to do two lies and a truth. Well Kidd had to give his consent first.

"Ok." He uncharacteristically agreed with a chuckle.

"When do we start? When do we start?" Kate asked literally bouncing at this point with a large smile on her face.

"Why not now?"

"Why not?" she repeated bounding over to the desk he had just gotten up from and plopped down on top of it, swinging her legs back and forth. "So who goes first Captain Kidd?"

"Ladies first." He said to her.

"Oh, ok. So pick the lie out of these three statements." Pate paused, a thoughtful expression momentarily clouding her face. "Oh, I've got it now! Ok, so Killer taught me to swim by throwing me into a lake and while he was in his boat kept inching away from me. Killer killed my first and only cat and I really wish Killer hadn't ditched me."

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A/N: Anyone want to guess which one is the lie or is it pretty obvious?

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	33. Answers and Our pasts

"The last one." Kidd said going back around the desk and sitting back in his chair and leaning it back against the wall on two legs as he propped his feet up. He had a confident smile on his face. Kidd just couldn't see Kidd ditching his sister for anything in the world other than him and even then that was iffy.

"Nope." She popped the p with a smile. The great King Kidd was incorrect but it didn't bring her much satisfaction since he wasn't being his usual angry and sneering self. "My dad taught me to swim like that." Kate let out a small chuckle before saying, "I went home not only drenched but also traumatized that night." She could still remember how heavy her limbs had been, how her mother had shouted at her for being late for dinner and soaking wet while her dad silently grabbed a bottle of something or other and disappearing into his and her mom' s room, not a single word had been said to him about his punctuality.

Then an upset expression passed over her features as she glanced between Kidd's jean covered legs and the god awful yellow and black things he usually wore. "You know what." She asked slowly and thoughtfully. Kidd hummed at her trying to figure out exactly why she was no longer smiling. "You look different in jeans." It was strange that he had changed into the dark stone washed colored pants.

"I thought we were playing two truths and a lie." He had only changed to humor the small blonde.

She instantly perked up. "Oh we are, it's your turn. But they make you look softer, less . . . obscene and loud. You like kind of . . .soft."

Kidd scoffed at that. Soft was the last thing he wanted to look. It was no wonder why he hadn't bought them in the first place, why he hadn't decided on wearing jeans but instead of his usual pants. "My turn huh? Oh well the first island I conquered was a fall island. I almost ended your brother's life when we first met and I was surprised when your cooking didn't kill me."

"The first one?" He second two both had to be truths.

"Wrong."

"So did you not lie at all?" Because Kate knew that he had been frightened to eat her food until she hadn't kicked the bucket after the first bite. And the last one, well she could see it all too well, Kidd almost killing her brother then giving him two options join my crew or die.

"Nope."

He mocked the way she pronounced the word and smiled at the way she huffed haughtily at him while crossing her arms across her chest and saying "Don't you get the rules of this game at all?"

"Afraid not honey. Let's try twenty questions." He had a feeling that if he didn't change the game Kate would get upset with him purposely screwing up two truths and a lie by telling all truths/lies or two lies and a truth. After a brief stare down she caved and he began. "It's the favorite game-"

"So we just ask favorite whatever's?"

He nodded and quickly asked his question before Kate could try and over thing this or before she could ask him one of his own questions before he got to it. "We've already accomplished color so what about your favorite island type?"

"Spring. I'm a weather wimp. I don't really like the extreme heat." She could live with the extreme cold because of how much she liked oversized clothing. She spun around and faced Kidd, crossing her legs and leaning eagerly forwards as she returned the question. "What about you? Summer, winter, fall or spring?"

"Fall." He answered simply providing no exclamation as to why he had this preference.

"Oookay. So what's your favorite . . ." Kate trailed off for a second, once again thinking for a few seconds before throwing her arms up and exclaiming, "Ice-cream flavors!" After all who didn't like ice-cream? Even Killer didn't mind it when he didn't have his mask on.

"Vanilla. If anyone says otherwise is incorrect."

Kate laughed, she had expected him to say 'I'll fucking kill them' instead of the disagreeing person is simply incorrect. And Kidd would have had he been in his right mind, which was why he was even playing this little game in the first place. "Well you're the incorrect one. The best part of ice cream is obviously the toppings, the sprinkles and gummy bears, the fruit candy, cookie crumbles and whatever else you put on the top. I mean jeez, vanilla, how bland."

"You said flavor, not toppings."

"Oh, then orange cream!" she exclaimed with a smile that made Kidd roll his eyes at her.

Of course he should have known that she wouldn't have chosen one of usual chocolate, vanilla or strawberry options but instead something more outlandish, something not quite normal. Well in that perspective they were quite similar.

"Ok so if you could freeze to death or get burned alive which would it be? Kate asked then knowing that the question would be returned answered her own question first, forgetting that she had just gone, that Kidd hadn't gotten his next turn. "I'd rather burn cuz our bodies are already warm and if the fire is hot enough it'll be quick. I mean freezing to death would be cold and long."

Kidd nodded in agreement. He'd rather burn alive as well. Then he asked his next question. The rest of the day passed in a fashion similar to this, questions were asked, answers were given some with explanations and some without them and some were even discussed. Some revealed more about the other person and other questions and answers provided a better understanding and insights of the other person and their mentality- drugged or not. They had moved throughout the room then to various parts of the ship.

The day had been peaceful and it was strange to see both Kidd and Kate civilly talking let alone talking to each other civilly not yelling, shouting or exchanging blows or insults. And it was even more unusual to see them laughing and smiling together, as though they were the best of friends, as if their personalities didn't clash on an hourly basis.

But now the strangely behaving couple were sitting on the figure head facing the ocean, Kate in Kidd's lap, his arms wrapped loosely around her, his chin resting on the top of her head, and questions still getting asked and being answered.

"So what were you're parents like?" Kate yawned stretching and arching her back as she did so. They had covered the basics, all of the typical favorites- favorite animal, drink, food, sound, taste, music, and many other things of the sort. Whenever Kidd answered they were never the answers Kate was expecting, each time she had to remind herself that she had more or less locked the real Kidd away in the recesses of his own mind. Like when she had asked about his favorite animal he had simply said 'lion, it's the kind of the jungle' not 'Animal? You're fucking asking me for a favorite fucking animal?' Then after ten minutes after going in circles finally giving in and answer the question something along the lines of 'A lion. He's the fucking king.' Then adding some kind of graphic imagery of a lion tearing into its innocent food or a kitten.

And when she had asked him about his favorite sound- well it had been honest but there wasn't a single curse word in the sentence 'women screaming my name'. When he had said that Kate had only rolled her eyes at him. Of course she had answered most of his in turn for asking her own questions. They had even casually discussed favorite sex positions and even their preferred methods of fore play, perfect 'dates', goals in life- finding the One Piece was an off limits answer- and their bucket lists.

At her back Kate felt Kidd shrug his shoulders as he said, "Never had any. I grew up in a dog eat dog world." Parents, he didn't need parents, just a few questionable 'friends'. And even he didn't really need them. But traveling in packs was always then being alone, everyone knew that.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kate muttered quietly. That kind of explained a lot of his personality, his real one at least. "Parents are overrated." She muttered more to herself then to Kidd.

She felt his chest heave several times as a small chuckle and the words "Don't be. I fucking showed those bastards in the end they all got what they had coming to them." reached her ears.

In the distance the burning island, the people scattering like roaches, like the insects they were, before him. The streets ran red with their blood and revenge. Ash, smoke and fear filled the air, stung his nose. That had been his home, where he had survived the past seventeen years of his life. But only once he had set said that smoky night did he actually start living. Kate's tired voice and the word 'oh' instantly dissipated the scene wavering before his eyes. "What about your parents?" He returned the question.

Kate began muttering about how she had forgotten about the fact that they were asking and returning the questions once they had been asked and answered and or discussed. But she finally stopped the low incomprehensible muttering and to Kidd's delight intelligently responded. "Well believe it or not Killer and I have- well had- two parents."

"Had?" Kidd cut in unable to help himself. The word had implied that they were either no longer living or that they had left.

"Yeah. They died." Kate snapped in an irritable tone before asking. "Now may I continue?" she paused and only after Kidd's permission did she continue. "So daddy was a no good gambling, lying, cheating, stealing drunk. He even lent mommy out to pay debts- she'd come home crying or with bad marks, or would just go into her room and hide for a while. He also threw things, dishes, knives, bottles, fists, curses- those kinds of things- at her. And in return she took it out on me." Kate swallowed, trying to force down the lump forming in her throat. "Ever wonder why Killer and I are so close?"

No. Kidd often wondered why Killer put up with Kate or how he had so much patience when it came to her. His first mate was like a completely different, yet the exact same around his little sister. But despite his thoughts he said yes to the rhetorical question.

"Well first of all you have to understand that Killer was the perfect golden child. He was the apple of their eyes, while I was the rotten core. He was the one who could do no wrong. Ever. And mommy wasn't t-the only one who bothered me. Daddy l-l-loved my torment too." Her bottom lip was quivering and tears were creating slick paths down her cheeks and she could taste some of those tears. It was like a tidal wave, all the years she had purposely forgotten, everything before a certain point had been the receding of the water, the building up of the wave. And now it was all coming crashing down.

Kidd could hear the instability of her wavering voice as something hit his hand and a sniffle was heard. "Are you crying?" He asked as she lifted one of her hands to her face.

But Kate only stubbornly shook her head and stammered an answer. No, she wasn't crying, just got sea salt in her eyes. He accepted her answer trying not to laugh at it and then encouraged her to continue on. He was now holding one of her hands, hoping that the small gesture would mean something- she was a woman after all.

"Y-y-you also have to understand that despite out differences in our parents eyes, he was always there to pick me up, to dust me off. I can faintly remember him humming lullabies, always there to set broken bones of mine, to wipe my tears and bandage whatever part of me and to tell me that someone actually loved me." There was a long pause where Kidd wasn't sure if she was going to continue but before a sound could leave his mouth she continued. "So Killer had just turned eleven and it was my seventh birthday. He had claimed that he needed to go do some important things so he wasn't home. I don't remember what I did that time to set them off, but daddy was drunk- no totally wasted- and mommy had been using other methods to get rid of her sorrow and they . . . they . . . mommy hit me a few times and then held me down a-a-a-and daddy he- he began kicking me and stuff." Now that she had started sharing all of this Kate found that she was unable to stop, even with the countless old wounds that she was tearing open with each memory that was brought back to the surface, if Kidd had gotten up and left her there on the figurehead alone, even then she didn't think she'd be able to stop. Kate also didn't know when she had moved but she was now across Kidd's lap, face pressed into his bare chest with her arms wrapped around him. "I think I blacked out a few times but eventually Killer came home. Daddy was his first kill, mommy his second. And do you know what he did after tossing the kitchen knife he had used behind him?" Kate let out a little laugh and didn't wait for Kidd to answer. "He held out his hand and helped me up- the both of us covered in our parent's blood- and lead me to the bathroom. He ran me a bath and told me bath the mess would be gone by time I was finished. After that we celebrated my birthday."

"So that's why?" Kidd murmured looking down at Kate. The story explained a lot about Killer and Kate's relationship rather why Kate refused to leave Killer now that she had found him, why Killer had threatened him earlier that day.

She nodded and asked, "Can we stop talking about this?"

"How bout we go to my room?" He asked though it wasn't much as a question seeing how he was already gathering Kate up in his arms and sliding off the figurehead after turning towards the deck.

"Yeah but no sex tonight." She murmured sleepily. "It's your turn to ask one you know."

"If you could stay a certain age forever which age would it be?" He already had his answer but wanted to hear Kate's, if she could stay awake long enough that was.

"Right now, forever twenty one. But I don't want to live forever. I mean I just don't. It sounds unpleasant and I'll outlive Killer and you and all of my friends and enemies and I'll forever be the same. I don't want that. What about you?" Her words were getting farther and farther spaced and quieter and quieter in volume.

"None. Legends only exist when they die. I don't want to be immortal."

"You could always fake several deaths as an immortal and then be many legends." Kate thought aloud with a small smile as she closed her eyes. She wasn't going to fall asleep, just rest her eyes for a few minutes.

Kate fell asleep before he could even reach his room. Kidd considered taking her to Killer's room but decided that he had enjoyed waking up next to her too much the past few days to pass up the chance of doing so again. So he lay her down in his bed and then climbed in next to her.

When he awoke that morning he kissed her forehead and got up, not waiting for sleeping beauty to wake up, it could be hours and he didn't have that much patience. Plus he had things to do.

Not ten minutes after getting up, getting a mug of coffee and then going out onto the deck Killer approached him saying, "There appears to be an island with a weak magnetic pull. It hasn't registered on the log pose meaning we do not have to stop. What would you like us to do?"

Killer was really hoping that Kidd- the real one- would return soon, before Kate could adjust to his calmer, sweeter, softer side. Usually Killer wouldn't question if Kidd would like to work his usual 'magic' on the small island depending on his current mood. But now. . He couldn't tell. Kidd was even more unpredictable than usual, and to the average person Kidd was beyond unpredictable but Killer, he was usually on the same page as his captain, if not finishing his sentences for him.

"What do you think we should do?" Killer found that despite his previous mental preparation for whatever Kidd might answer might be he was still surprised by the question.

"Pass it. We don't need supplies and it would be a waste of time. Plus we know nothing about it or its inhabitants." Killer had the feeling that he was wasting his breath, even with the love potion infecting his captain.

Kidd laughed and we up to the quarterdeck but before he did so said with a smile, "We're in no rush to reach the one piece. Let's have a little fun."

Killer nodded his head once and only when he had turned away from his captain did he let out a heavy sigh.

A tall and proud figure sat at a desk in a large open room. Several faces and high bounties stared, smiled and glared up at her. She wasn't very concerned about the lowly crew; they would be the easiest to take out. But the smiling girl and the two supernova's whose bounties had recently been raised from 60 million to 72 million beli, from 150 million to 189 million beli, and from 197 to 213 beli, all impressive numbers and all three of them were worth her cold concern. They would be the more difficult ones to take down and out but there were several ways in which she could concoct to successfully do so. Eventually one of those many ideas would be formulated into a plan then acted out.

"Have you decided what our course of action will be?" A man asked standing in the middle of the airy, well lit room at attention.

"Don't rush me." She coolly said as she dismissively waving her hand at the man as she uncrossed her long legs and slowly stood. For a woman she was tall, about 5 foot 10 inches (177.8 cm) with medium length black hair and vibrant green eyes. "But yes, I believe I have a plan." As she walked around the desk she snagged one of the bounty posters off of her desk before walking up to the man in the white and blue uniform and coming to a stop before him. "About when do you estimate that they'll reach the island?"

"If they continue at their current speed and the weather speeds up then I'd say by tomorrow morning at best."

The cool, professionally dressed woman pulled the white jacket with the words 'absolute justice' printed on the back around her shoulders before saying, "Good." She smiled a smile that everyone one the small island knew to be weary of, one that almost made the man wet himself. "See this cute little doll of a pirate?" The poor marine mutely nodded hesitantly taking a look at the poster his boss held in her hands. "Good. Don't forget her face." She said before giving him his orders and what he was to tell the other marines.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	34. First Date

"Don't you trust me?" Kidd's voice asked from somewhere behind her.

"Not blindfolded I don't." Kate snapped trying to feel if there was anything in front of her, but so far her searching arms only found empty air.

"Trust me, nothing bad will happen to you. I won't let it." The last of the two sentences carried a familiar edge to it that she hadn't heard since he had told her to fuck off when she had hugged him for telling her that the breakfast wasn't horrible. She trusted his words because of that edgy tone but she was still blind and still being on the familiar ship didn't help her since of direction at all.

"I know but where are we going?" She asked for the millionth time. As if having a red sash wrapped around her head and blocking her vision wasn't bad enough they had to keep her in suspense and not tell her where they were taking her. She did know that the ship had stopped for whatever reason at an island whose magnetic pull didn't even get noticed by the log pose.

"Down the gangplank." Kidd answered then quickly added, "Watch your step." However despite his warning Kate still tumbled forwards. She had lifted her foot too soon and her toe caught what she was supposed to have stepped over. A startled cry escaped as she blindly fell forwards, arms flailing in a rapid windmill like motion, her heart leaping into her throat as it began beating wildly in her ears.

Kate ended up tripping over exactly what Kidd had warned her about and he wasn't the only one who moved to stop her crash landing. Killer grabbed the back of his jacket while Kidd wrapped the both of his arms around her shoulders. Killer let go as he whispered, "I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you, not even your own clumsiness."

Killer slipped away while he had the chance to. He'd of course be keeping a keen eye on things with the marine base and the fact that they had yet to be attacked by them but he wouldn't bother Kate and his captain's romantic activities. Killer believed that the thing in which they were going on was considered a date, an abstract idea when it came to Kidd and Kate and something that resembled a couple. But despite deciding to make himself scares to them he could still hear Kate's winded response.

"Look, I'm the blindfolded one here. Remember when I said that I'd rather be blind than deaf the other day?" Kate asked and even though she had asked a non-rhetorical question she continued on not giving him a chance to respond. "Well I'm seriously rethinking my response. This is so not fun." And to think she had willingly let Kidd blindfold her! All she heard next was Kidd laughing from a place slightly behind her, the crisscross hold he had over her shoulders slipped away but one of those arms slipped down and wrapped around her waist. "Stop being so mean to me and just tell me where we're going already." It was driving her crazy!

"No can do. Besides you're the one who told me that you liked mysteries, liked having to think, and enjoyed the challenge of solving the puzzle, crime or problem before it was revealed in the book."

"This isn't a book! And anyways you haven't dropped any clues for me to contemplate, you haven't slipped at any important places or forgotten any details and I can't tell if you're lying or not." While it was true that she did in fact love mysteries she did not like being blindfolded, being robbed of one of her six senses.

"Ok then I'll give you just one hint." He paused, guiding her onto the sandy beach. "You'll love it." Or at least he hoped that she would.

"But Ki-idd." She whined his name. "I love a hell of a lot of things." Could he have been anymore vague with his hint?! With the amount of things she loved and the fact that he hadn't narrowed it down to things she loved to eat or do or think about made her spin with all of the things she knew that she loved and even then there were things that she had forgotten that she loved.

"I'm aware." He said a smile in his voice. Frowning Kate turned to smack him and was pleasantly surprised when she actually managed to hit him despite the fact that she was blindfolded.

That's when the realization hit her. "You're having fun with this aren't you?" Kate knew that she shouldn't be surprised, which was something she couldn't help but be when she realized that he was enjoying teasing her and everything.

"Sure am honey. But don't you worry, you'll be enjoying yourself soon enough too." He said casually enough, not a hint of what he planned in his tone of voice or in his words.

Kate proceeded to pout. Even Nice Kidd was mean to her and that just wasn't fair! Really he was supposed to be 'nice' Kidd, not usual Kidd. "Hey, wait!" She turned her head towards the side his voice had been coming from and asked with a gasp, "We're not going to a hotel or anything of the sorts are we?" If it was sex he wanted all Kidd had to do was ask and then clear the ship so that they could do it anywhere on the vessel and not have to waste a single beli on a room where god only knew how many pairs and groups of people had gotten down and dirty.

Again she heard him laugh, a relaxed not forced, not sarcastic or threatening sound. He had been doing that a lot lately. "No ma'am, keep guessing." He doubted that she'd be able to do so correctly but he wanted to hear some of the wild things she was bound to come up with.

Since Killer knew the both of them so well Kidd had told him to set the date up so that all he had to do was to take Kate there. He had told the crew to go do whatever they wanted on the island and he had even taken the liberty of finding a black button up top, a tie- which happened to be black as well- black shoes and the dark jeans that Kate was hot and cold about. His goggles weren't around his neck or pushed up onto his head but despite his efforts to look decent on this outing Kate had insisted upon wearing his jacket.

"You're so unkind." She huffed at him, crossing her arms across her chest with a frown pulling down the corners of her mouth.

As they continued walking Kate had become unafraid, she had stopped fearing that she was going to run into someone, something, a wall, building, or even a door. She had long since dropped her arms and had stopped cautiously walking. However she did keep stubbing her toes and tripping over dips and rises in the uneven ground and she tripped over her own feet or even nothing at all. But not once of those trillions of times that she tripped, fell, stumbled or tumbled forwards did she fall hard, not once did she scrape her hands and knees or even land on them as a matter of fact.

They entered a building, Kate could tell because of the change of the ground beneath her feet and the change of atmosphere. The air held quiet chatter, soft music and was stuffier then outside. "Kidd." She hissed, she could tell that the place wasn't a bar because even blindfolded Kate would know a bar the moment she stepped foot inside. And Kidd wasn't a clubbing kind of guy so Kate was at a loss as to where exactly they were.

They came to a stop after a few minute wait and Kidd's arm around her waist disappeared and there was a weight pressing down on her shoulders until her knees buckled and she was forced down. She couldn't help but let out a startled cry that abruptly ended when her butt landed on something somewhat cushioned.

"I told you not to worry." Kidd's voice hissed into her ear before the red makeshift blindfold was pulled off.

Kate blinked a few times; unsure as to which part she was supposed to be more amazed at. They were in an expensive restaurant like the Baratie or something like that, or maybe she should be more amazed that Kidd looked . . . nice? Oh yes, he looked very nice handsome even which was a stark contrast to the usual obscene look of his. And now she kind of felt bad that she wasn't dressed up. She was still in Killers modified pants, was wearing a more decretive bra- one that she had forgotten that she had bought when those bounty hunter people had kidnapped Killer. She was also wearing Kidd's beautiful jacket.

She didn't match the fancy interior either; in fact she was now the obscene looking one, the one who stuck out like a sore thumb, just like Kidd's red hair in the somewhat dim light. Between them sat a candelabra on top of a dark mahogany table and around them were finely dressed waitresses and waiters as well as couples like them or small groups. Looking around and seeing all of this Kate couldn't help but say, "What the fuck Kidd? Where in the name of hell are we?" It all came out a little too loudly but a place like this had to be Kidd's own personal hell. He was dressed up, from head to toe, and the place looked expensive, meaning it was going to hurt his pocket book . . . unless they weren't going to pay- which might be kind of fun trying to escape and all.

"A young woman shouldn't speak like that." Kidd said with a smile.

"Oh stuff if King Kidd." She grumbled as their empty wine glasses were filled with dark maroon colored wine. It wasn't alcohol from questionable places into questionably clean mugs but instead wine from a slightly dusty bottle with a label she recognized and into a transparent and clean glass. Kidd was one to talk when it came to foul words and language. His favorite work had to be the f word, though he had claimed that it wasn't when she had asked. She leaned forwards and hissed, still busy looking around, "What are we doing in a place like this?"

Kidd slowly brought the glass up to his equally dark lips and took a drink, the rim not doing too great of a job of hiding the smile. Kate couldn't help but think that he looked nothing short of sexy as he sipped the dark liquid. And only after lightly setting it back on the table did he decide that he wanted to answer her question. "I thought you'd enjoy having a light meal before we moved onto our next activities."

"Next activities?" Kate curiously asked. It was paining her to be kept in such suspense, to be forced to keep guessing.

"A surprise." He answered with another smile. It was an 'I know what I'm doing to you' smile, one that also said that he was enjoying every second of it.

A surprise only meant that there was one. Kate noted finding herself letting out a breath of relief. With nice or the usual Kidd the word surprise kind of frightened her, why shouldn't it? Kidd wasn't exactly the nicest, most predictable guy in the world. Not only that but she didn't know how many of the surprises she'd be able to take. "Of course." Kate found herself muttering to his response, making him chuckle. And when the sound reached her ears she shot him a look and grumbled, "I thought I told you to stuff it." as plates were sat down before them, putting more things between the two of them. When had they ordered?! Kate wondered with alarm until she realized that the square dish before her contained bowtie shaped pasta smothered in a white creamy sauce with cute little pink shrimp on top. Then she looked at Kidd who hadn't wasted any time cutting into a large juicy steak. "This isn't light." Kate said, not that she was complaining, this was her favorite food after all!

"Do you have a problem with it?" He asked pausing in his cutting and taking a bite.

"Not at all." Kate answered grinning widely.

Her eyes had lit up upon seeing her favorite food placed before her; Kidd almost wished that she could have seen herself. It was kind of funny if he were to think about it, food had brought her that much joy.

After a few bites she paused and looked up saying, "Here try it!" as she stabbed a bite and leaned across the small flames of the candles. "Come on, open up. This shit is delicious!" after forcing Kidd to accept the bite Kate in turn stole a piece of his large steak without a single noise of protest from Kidd.

"Don't eat too much." He cautioned. She was right, this certainly wasn't light. Maybe they should have eaten last with the way Kate was shoveling food into her mouth as though this was her last meal and she knew it, or like it was her first in several days. However this time no one- Killer- had to force her to eat. Kidd did like that that despite the elegant and sophisticated setting Kate was anything but.

"Why not?" She asked though a large mouthful of food. "This stuff is so good!" The dinky little island without as much as a magnetic pull had surprised her with such delicious food. She didn't even care about how the server knew their favorite food- maybe he could read minds? - or why they had it prepared before they had even come- again, magic?

"You don't want to dance on a full stomach."

She slowed down considerably. "Oh, true." The reaction wasn't immediate and his words took a few seconds to sink in and for a moment he thought that she wasn't going to catch his slip. But just before he could say anything her aquamarine eyes lit up when they fully did so and she stopped her fork before speaking, "Dancing? Forget dinner and wine. Let's go right now!"

"Are you done?" Kidd couldn't help but laugh at Kate. She was already out of her chair and tugging on his wrist and trying to pull him out of his seat. "Let'sgolet'sgolet'sgo!" she was bouncing up and down on bare feet, the food but an afterthought. "Come on I haven't been clubbing in forever!" Maybe this time the man she loved wouldn't drug her. "Come on Kidd." She begged, pulling harder and causing more of a commotion. "Please." She dragged the word out until he allowed her to pull him from his seat.

Done or not she was ready to go.

"Shall we?" Kidd asked holding his elbow out to her, looking like a true gentleman from Kate's perspective.

"YES!" she exclaimed letting go of his wrist and clapping in delight. "We shall!" with the second sentence Kate flashed a smile and linked their arms together. And when they started walking Kidd walked like a normal person and Kate skipped, hopped, and bounced besides him. And when they stepped out of the restaurant she looked up at him still smiling. She was now positively glowing, beaming up at him; a smile was an understatement to be honest. She said, "I can't wait." They lapsed into comfortable semi silence as they figured out where they were supposed to find the place in which they would dance. "Hey." Kate suddenly stopped, forcing Kidd to stop beside her. "Is this a date?"

Kidd looked down and shrugged, "I guess-"

"Then this is the BEST first date I've ever been on." And with that she dragged him into the club, like it or not. But he didn't mind, not with Kate sliding into a space just big enough for the two of them. He didn't mind with the way she grabbed his hands and traced them up and down her body and the way she ground to the pulsating beat. Music thumped around them, lights flashed different colors and perspiring bodies moved and the two of them were dead smack in the middle of it all. It was funny anytime Kate wanted to speak she'd reach up behind her and pull his head down and shout something but even then it was hard to hear her.

Killer wasn't worried about his sister or his captain on this Marine controlled island simply because Kate could hold her own pretty well and Kidd had promised to not let anything bad happen to her. And even if she had somehow managed to find trouble Kidd would clean it up and they'd continue on their way.

Through the rest of the day and into the night they moved from dancing to drinking, cooling off and chatting then going back to dancing, During the entire time Kate's smile hardly faltered and Kidd refused to let anyone cut in or dance with his partner. During the whole time Kate coldheartedly turned down or ignored everyone who tried to do so. The only reason she could have gone off to dance with another partner would to tease Kidd with something a little more than just a smile.

That was until a tall dark beauty sauntered up in a short dress and matching heals and asked, "May I join the two of you?" Her voice was easily heard above the noise by both Kidd and Kate alike.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	35. Great Escapes

The blonde smiled wickedly while the redhead behind her was trying to refuse her request. But despite those attempts the blonde grabbed her slender wrist and pulled her within close proximity, far within the boundaries of her personal space. The woman easily adapted, sandwiching the small blonde between hers and the redheads bodies.

Having two dance partners was nothing new to Kate and despite Kidd's attempts to make the woman to leave, to prevent her from joining; Kate knew that Kidd liked it. And since Kidd had been so nice to her lately Kate decided to treat him as best as she could in such a crowded public place. She leaned into the dark haired woman and loud enough for her, but not Kidd, to hear said, "Kiss me." From her understanding guys really liked girl on girl action and why would Kidd be exempt from that category?

The woman obliged, tongue, touching and all. Her skin was a pretty flawless bronze color and her eyes a greyish color. Kate smiled into the kiss, even as a nice guy she could tell that Kidd liked the sight of them kissing. Pulling away the dark haired woman said, "My name is Vasara."

"How rude of me to shove my tongue down your throat before properly introducing myself." The blonde gasped. "I'm Kate." She offered an apologetic smile that was returned by the woman. After that there wasn't much talking. And for awhile the three of them danced together occasionally switching positions.

Before Vasara could act she needed to know one- no two things first. "So what does the redhead mean to you?" she asked casually.

"He's my captain with benefits. That and I love him." Maybe if she said that to him before he got the chance to kill her he wouldn't- who the hell was she kidding? Kidd was going to kill her with or without her confessing her love to him or really sincere apologies, or telling him how much she preferred usual Kidd over nice Kidd.

"And what are you to him?" She inquired.

Kate found the questions the stranger was asking her kind of weird but went with it not seeing the harm in answering. After all what was the chance of seeing this woman ever again? Kate just shrugged and answered, "First mates younger sister . . . and maybe something more?" She shrugged once again. She couldn't say for sure whether or not Kidd returned the feelings or not but after the potion wore off she was as good as dead. "I don't know to be honest."

"Would you like to find out?" Vasara asked in a slow and tempting voice.

"Sure, why not?" The blonde smiled and willingly let her begin leading her away, only for the redhead to wrap his arms around the blonde and ask with narrowed eyes,

"Where are you two going?" He didn't look ready to give Kate up, which made her smile.

Kate twisted around in his arms and pecked him on the lips saying, "You can start worrying when I'm not back in ten minutes." Kate hadn't the slightest clue how the woman named Vasara planned on testing how much she meant to Kidd but surely it wouldn't take more than ten minutes, right?

Kidd scowled at the both of them. He wasn't finding another partner and he didn't exactly want to stop dancing, not yet at least. But he let her go muttering about how he'd be getting a drink and would wait for her at the bar.

After assuring Kidd that she would in fact be back Kate let the woman lead her out the front door, which surprised Kate. The metal door clicked shut, shutting out the noise and heat of the club and the people inside it. It was fairly quiet outside and the stars shone brightly. Kate wondered when it had even turned night as she stopped short even as Vasara continued walking towards the wall of blue and white. Quickly she slid into a fighting position before she was asked, "Are you ready to see just how much you mean to him?" Her tone was no longer sweet but instead hard and strict despite the soft smile still on her lips.

"Of course. But that'll have to wait a few." Now Kate wished that she had told Kidd to start worrying after five minutes. Against armed marines that were surrounding the entire club and appeared ready for a fight Kate knew that she could only hold out for a certain amount of time and ten minutes was far too long to fend them all off on her own. But despite the odds being against her and the fact that she was outnumbered she whispered the word 'go' which she said as she threw her first punch. That seemed to set everything into motion. Kate had decided to put up one hell of a fight and they weren't taking her, not if she could help it at least. She was also counting down the minutes till Kidd might step out and come to her aid and counting up the moments that she managed to last against the seemingly endless tide of marines.

They were surrounding her, crowding her, giving her no room to kick or flip and when one went down or fell back thirty- that was an exaggeration- replaced that single marine.

Ultimately failing in his search for both Kate and the woman who Kate had warmed up to as quickly as was expected with her, Kidd stepped outside for a breather and decided that if she hadn't already left she'd have to eventually go out the door, right?

Wrong. He thought with a curse upon finding his jacket lying trampled on the ground. His jacket lacked a body, lacked Kate. And looking around he saw that the street was nearly deserted, only a few people meandered around, some stumbling drunks but none of them looked as though they had taken or harmed Kate. Kidd let out another curse wondering why the hell he had even let Kate go with that woman or why he hadn't just tagged along with them.

No, Kidd knew why he had let her go. It was because despite everything, despite Kate's knack for trouble, despite it all, it was because for some unknown reason Kidd had believed that when she said that she'd be back in ten minutes that she'd actually be back in ten. Which Kidd now realized was a huge stupid mistake. He shouldn't make a habit out of trusting her or allowing her to go off with random strangers. He thought to himself before picking up his jacket and beginning the search.

Usually the sound of a building crashing and the sight of dust rising wouldn't startle Killer. But the particular time the sound and sight managed to do so. At first Killer was confused, he had more or less been told to set up a date that both his captain and little sister would enjoy and he had done exactly that. They were supposed to enjoy their favorite meals at a restaurant and then go dancing- something he knew that Kate loved and Kidd had seemed to like last time they had been dragged to a club. There was no room for building destroying in those plans, so why the hell were buildings being destroyed?

Eating and talking with a short walk and dancing, could the couple not even do those simple few things peacefully or had the potion worn off? Was it possible that the marines that controlled the island had found them and decided to attack? With that last thought Killer cursed and raced off the ship in case they needed his help or something. Not that his captain and his sister were incapable fighters but he needed to see what was wrong, to know if they needed his help or not.

But when he found his captain there were no swarms of marines, no violence or blood. There was also no his captain and his sister, just his captain, who was emerging from the ruins of a building. He also noticed that Kidd was wearing his jacket- which he distinctively remembered Kate wearing.

"Captain?" Killer cautiously asked ducking as something was flung at him, missing him by mere inches.

When Kidd realized that the voice belonged to his first mate Kidd muttered an apology. He wasn't having any luck finding Kate and it was odd enough that the marines hadn't overwhelmed them by now. And that made Kidd suspicious but he was too preoccupied with finding Kate that the thought didn't click with the circumstance.

"Is anything the matter?" Killer asked. It wasn't natural for Kidd to be worried, let alone appear worried, which meant that the potion was still in effect.

"No." He grumbled looking around with a frown.

"Where is Kate?" Killer asked wondering exactly why Kidd had his jacket and why he was missing Kate.

"I kind of lost track of her."

"And that's why you're tearing up the city?" It made since and Kidd- poisoned or not- would tear up an entire island if he wanted to find somebody hard enough.

"Precisely."

"Shouldn't we search the marine base?" It was more than likely that she was there, being held in a cell or being beaten.

Kidd shook his head no and said, "Haven't seen a single one of them today." Killer nodded and went along with his captain. He searched- but did not destroy- the streets, buildings and alleyways for his sister. But eventually he convinced Kidd to go back to the ship, to wait and see if Kate would show up and if she didn't that they'd turn the marine base upside down searching for Kate within its walls.

Both men were dubious that she'd show up within the duration of the night and both men were worried out of their minds.

Kate sat there in a cell, the keys out of reach but in sight. It wasn't fair! She had tried to escape several times and several times freedom had been so close she could have tasted it. The first time she had been tossed into a windowless, unfurnished room. She had easily picked the lock and was out of there the moment she thought that the marines were gone. However a few wrong turns and a run in with the wrong person and she was tossed into a pitch black room and she was robbed of her sense of sight for the second time that day so she couldn't use her resources but she had still gotten out though looking back she couldn't figure out how she had done it. Once out of the dark room Kate had stripped a marine and after dressing in his clothing walked around searching for the entrance undetected. Well she ended up literally running into a marine, the hat had fallen off and they had recognized her as the Kidd Princess Kate and despite her efforts to deny it she was then thrown into a cell with a small rectangular window.

When she was the first building do down she had blasted out the window with haki she didn't have the slightest understanding of and knew how to control even less. After blowing it out she had tried to climb through. That task took a lot of scrambling, falling and several curses. But finally she made it through with deep cuts but despite the blood she decided to run, she could bandage herself later when she got to the ship or something. Unfortunately it was the sound of shattering glass that had alerted the marines and though they had failed to pull her back into the cold hard cell they didn't fail in catch her outside and dragging her back into the base and this time throwing her into a windowless cell.

It sucked. The bare, cold walls, hard floor and infirmary looking bed reminded her of her old room. She was bleeding, tired and couldn't figure out how the hell to get out of this one and no matter how much she tried that haki wasn't working. So Kate just walked to the back of the cell, leaned her back against the wall before sliding into a sitting position with her knees drawn up and her chin resting on the tops of her knees.

BOOM!

The impact of whatever that had been could be faintly felt from under her. Kate also felt herself smile as she muttered the word 'five'. This was the fifth tremor she had felt, meaning that Kidd had taken out another something or other. She wished that she could just scream, 'I'm right here!' so that he'd stop searching in vain and stop wasting his time, so that he'd hurry up and come bust her out, or at least get someone to grab the keys that were once again out of her reach but in plain sight. She had already tried sweet talking a number of marines but eventually they stopped guarding her for some reason.

Unlike last time she had been kidnapped she hadn't been given the promise that if she were to hold tight then she'd be saved, that she wouldn't have to lift a finger to get saved, that she didn't have to save herself. This time neither Killer nor Kidd had the slightest clue as to where she was, or what had happened to her.

As it had turned out Vasara was a marine or sorts- Kate couldn't remember her exact position or title- but she was going to sue her to get not only her head but also Killers and Kidd's heads also. The woman planned on taking down the entire crew of Kidd Pirates, every last one of them and of course she'd rake in their bounties after purging the world of another powerful and threatening pirate crew. And to think that Kate had kissed that woman! That was one kiss and wonderful dance with a pleasant to be around Kidd that she'd never get back and that sucked even more than being in a cell with its keys just in sight. Not only that but, the woman had lured her away with the empty promise of seeing how much she meant to Kidd, which shouldn't matter to her as long as Killer was a Kidd pirate. Despite her feelings for Kidd if Killer left the Kidd Pirates then she'd follow, he was the whole reason she hadn't already left. She wanted to be with her bit brother again after three rather lonely years.

She had given up on rattling the bars and shouting god only knows what or trying to seduce any marines into giving her the keys and when the tremors stopped she stopped counting and ended up dozing in and out of consciousness. Once during her stay she woke up with hot silent tears rolling down her cheeks but for the life of her she couldn't remember the reason for them as she wiped them away with the back of her hand. She didn't know what time it was or why no one had come to her pathetic rescue or exactly how long she had been in the cell but she was proud that she hadn't spent all of her time feeling sorry for herself and had formulated several plans of escape- none of which she could execute- plans that would make both Killer and Kidd proud of her. Killer would have been proud of the plans that she had come up with and Kidd would have been proud of the amount of violence she was willing to use to get back home.

But once she had wiped her tears her eyelids began drooping farther and farther closed until she had once again dozed off.

Kidd had spent all night doing one of two things. He was either pacing or thinking of what he'd do to not only the marines but also the city and the entire island once he safely got Kate back. It wasn't a matter of if, not when. Because she was going to be his, he wasn't going to let the marines have her.

It was quite unusual for the redheaded Captain Kidd to be awake, let alone on the deck before the sun had risen, or had begun its ascent into the sky, but not for the Kidd Pirate's first mate to be up. But both men had been awake, worrying and talking all night and by time the sun had risen they had both fallen asleep because of boredom and a way to pass the time. Killer was resting against the rail of the ship, still standing and Kidd was sitting in his throne in a fashion similar to the way he had found Kate sleeping in it several times. So when a female's voice crackled through the island it jerked both captain and first mate out of their unconscious states of mind with a start. Killer noted how the sun had just about risen to its peak, making it about noon or so.

The voice was cheerful and Killer noticed how Kidd's expression became fierce and how he had risen out of his throne, he noticed how Kidd was intently listening to the echoing announcement. "The execution of the infamous Kidd Princess Kate will take place in precisely 30 minutes." The voice paused and by time it started up again Kidd had ordered all of the crew above deck. When the voice came on again it was sneering directly at them. "Tick tock Mr. Eustass Kidd, Kill and the rest of the Kidd Pirates, you princess is about to be executed like true royalty."

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A/N: I promise 'nice' Kidd isn't going to be around much longer.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	36. The return of Kidd

Kate sat there somewhere between acting as though she were asleep as actually sleeping but she heard the barred door open and a number of people walk in. She was roughly grabbed by her upper arm and yanked up. The instant she was on her feet she sprang into action, kicking the guy nearest to her where the sun don't shine and then when he doubled over she brought clasped together hands down on the back of his head with enough force to knock him out. And when the next guy lunged at her she sidestepped and allowed him to anticlimactically face plant into the cold stone wall and effectively take himself down leaving but one more marine for Kate to take care of. She went for his throat with a hard punch and when he collapsed to his knees Kate ran past him not caring if he was unconscious or not. When it was clear that he wasn't going to give chase she slowed to a walk and smacked her hands together saying, "Not too shabby." Before finding a few spare weapons and venturing down several hallways. Fortunately all she had to do was shoot a few unsuspecting marines and make a mad dash for it. Unfortunately Kate hadn't the slightest clue as where she was going.

She found it kind of weird that there were next to no marines going about their business in their own base. Where were they all? She wondered, once again slowing down to a walk. Maybe she could sneak out if she put on another uniform. Unfortunately for Kate and her brilliant plan she was already hopelessly lost and she didn't know where they kept their spare uniforms. So she decided to pick up the pace once again, wishing that they had a fire escape or evacuation plans mounted on the walls somewhere. After all marines were supposed to be all about safety and stuff right? She ran up some stairs and down hallways hoping to find a way out. There was a door up ahead and she sped up. The sooner she got out of their base the better she'd be and the sooner she could ease Killer's mind and tell Kidd that he had lied to her, the he had in fact let something happen to her.

Kate burst out of the door, whispering the word 'freedom' as the fresh air filled her lungs and bright sunlight blinded her. When her eyes adjusted though Kate stopped short muttering, "Or not." Even though the familiar doomsday ship was in plain sight she was not only standing on a platform high above a sea of white marred by occasional clumps of other random colors, the ship was all the way on the other side of the island.

"It looks like out captive has delivered herself to us. Lead herself straight to the slaughter." Vasara's voice sneered at both her and the crowd.

"I was trying to escape." Kate muttered her grip on the dagger after shooting down two marines before flipping behind the one who though that he could sneak up on her and stabbed him in the heart from his back. She ripped it out and stood defensively, slipping the gun into the waistline of her pants and waited for the next attack.

But when it didn't come soon enough Kate took a step back and racked towards the edge of the platform. When she reached its edge she pushed off as hard as she could and shouted, "Kalabunga!" She even considered curling up as though she were doing a cannonball but knew that she wouldn't hit water. Her goal wasn't to hurt or possibly herself but instead to get as close to the ship as she could before she needed to start fighting, before she had to start working to get back to her home.

They cleared a circle around where she would touch down and when she did land and when they didn't immediately move to attack Kate pulled the gun back out and emptied its chamber and like the spell had been broken the moment their dead comrades fell to the ground they tried to overwhelm her. To be honest Kate was kind of having fun as she danced out of their clutched, as the blade sliced so easily through their skin, as so many men failed to grab her.

Block a sword or blow, slice, punch or kick at any vital areas, flip over the heads of a few marines, gain some- but not much- ground and then repeat. This method worked quite well for Kate even when she had to switch up the order of things in order to evade a sword, a lunge tackle or an attack of any sorts but even then she didn't get far.

The first bad injury she sustained was a deep cut in the muscle of her calf as she flipped over a marine. But despite the wound and the heavy bleeding she kept pushing herself. Neither Killer nor Kidd knew where she was meaning her sorry ass wasn't about to be saved. However even though she was continuing on she was also slowing down, movements of that leg hurt making flipping and landing hard and several times she ended up collapsing or falling into some lucky marine. And even though she was in great pain, the drive to get to the ship blocked out a massive amount as she fought.

There were several other injuries such as blows that would bruise, small scratches, bloody knees and scraped palms for a while there had been nothing worse than that, nothing that she hadn't been incapable of handling.

There was certain since of accomplishment that Kate felt when she looked behind her, when she saw the amount of ground that she had covered. Yet there was a since of helplessness that she felt as well. She had only made it about half way across the packed courtyard and there was still so much space to cover and so marines before her. But Kate decided to take the challenge, to make it a game. If she made it she'd live, she'd be able to collapse on the deck and if she didn't, well then she'd rather die now then get executed a little later. Unfortunately for her the moment an excited smile graced her perspiring face was the moment something slid painfully through her shoulder and bloody metal protruded from her. It looked more painful than it really was and it was quite painful, even more so when it was yanked out.

Vasara stood atop the platform, mildly amused at the pirate's efforts yet indignant at her men's skill, they were trying and failing miserably to capture one pirate, one little girl who she had certainly underestimated. If the entire crew of the Kidd Pirates were here then she'd be able to understand her men's failure but all this struggle over one girl, it was unacceptable!

Using the transponder snail she pressed the button and threatened her men. If they couldn't bring a single woman to the execution platform then she was going to wipe them out and start anew, she'd train the new batch of men right and well. Releasing the button she smiled. Fear was always a good tactic to use to get people to do what you wanted when you wanted and it was working like a charm below her. The blonde pirate went down and her men were upon her like wolves to a fresh kill, like starving men for a crumb of bread.

Kate didn't know which part of her attack failed, where exactly she had gone wrong. It could have been the mistake of turning to face the bastard who had stabbed her or her decision to flip behind him, or maybe it was simply blood loss and pain that made her moves easier to read, easier to predict and to dodge and counter. Or maybe it was just a combination of all of those things that had made her go down like a bird with a broken wing trying to fly.

They bound her hands together behind her back using someone's belt, hitting her when she struggled as she was yanked to her feet and forced to lose the ground she had fought so hard to gain, to walk towards the platform where her death was supposed to await her, towards the platform that she had so bravely jumped off of- such heights would have made Killer mad or would have earned her a talk, a short version of a lecture.

Kate flailed around with both injured and uninjured legs, managing to catch some people in the face, where the sun don't shine and even some random places such as their stomachs or their throats. She even succeeded in getting out of the marine's grasps a few times but she could never regain the ground she had fought for and her freedom was short lived each time, earning a kick to her calf or a sharp blow to her injured shoulder.

They led her to Vasara's side and when she was turned to face the crowd she was forced roughly to her knees. She listened as the dark marine woman made an announcement taunting Kidd and Killer- which was never a good idea.

Ever.

She informed her big brother and possibly still intoxicated captain that she only had ten minutes to live, ten minutes to come up with another escape plan, ten minutes to kneel in wait and anticipation, and ten minutes to bleed out. But ten minutes wasn't an adequate amount of time to do any of those said things.

Once done with her announcement to the Kidd pirates, to her wonderful oniichan and their infected captain the woman crouched next to her and asked, "How does it feel?"

The blonde girl next to her just there her head back and laughed and asked, "Did you think before you crossed Kidd and Killer's lines?" Obviously the woman hadn't. If she had she'd be trembling and on her way away from the entire island, hiding somewhere where Kidd wouldn't find her and somewhere Killer couldn't track and or think to find her.

"Excuse me?" she asked the blonde pirate who had just looked defeated not two seconds ago. But now that spark had returned to her aquamarine colored eyes and the smile on her face wasn't fake even though the pain was easily seen through both.

"I asked if you considered the consequences before crossing my lo- . . . captains and my brother's line?" The indignant woman slapped Kate, saying nothing. But to her that was nothing compared to the sharp throbbing in her shoulder and calf. But Kate laughed in response to the slap with a laugh and the words, "Haven't felt that sting in a few weeks." And before she could say anything else the sound of people screaming below them captured their attention, marine and pirate alike their attentions were drawn down to the ruckus below them towards the back of the crowd.

Kate was knelt on a platform; the dark woman from the club slowly rose from her crouch from next to Kate. The fucking bitch was dead.

His crew stood around him, waiting for his word, for his orders and Kidd eagerly gave them. "Leave nothing." It was rather unfair that he couldn't kill Kate after having slipped something into that goddamned breakfast that she had made- he knew there was something wrong with Kate serving him breakfast. And it was rather ridiculous that he was going to obey the orders of his first mate, that when he finally got to Kate that he wasn't going to beat or even possibly even kill her.

With those words the crew behind him disbanded. Kidd smiled at the large space between him and the platform, that the number of people that stood between him and his target. He let out a laugh, eager to spill blood as she patiently stretched the muscles in his shoulders, rolling them as he waited for Killer to get out of range of his devil fruit power. The little justice enforcing soldiers were going to be a light warm up, going to get his blood and heart pumping before the real workout.

Killer sped ahead of the crew, only killing people who got in his way, well aware of the fact that Kidd and the rest of the crew would gladly obliterate everything that stood in their way, so his main concern was Kate, not the woman who stood looking down at the scene blow her, looking high and mighty, as though she thought she was untouchable. She was more than the 'damn woman' Kidd had been talking so foully about.

He reached Kate fairly quickly, scooped his bound sister up and without a single word jumped down off the high platform.

"Are you just going to leave her?" Kate asked as he singlehandedly carried her. He would have set her down, cut her free and have let her do her own fighting besides him, however, Killer had yet to find a spare moment to do so and he had taken note of her injuries, she was practically dead weight as it was no matter how conscious she still was. An injury to one of her legs was painful and prohibited so much movement and most of Kate's fighting style.

"Yes." Killer answered partially decapitating a person and then sending a spin kick to a man's face. Kate's weight wasn't really a problem, it was that he only had one free hand to fight with, defend both him and Kate with and to use to work his way back to the ship. And with her in his arms he couldn't' use his agility.

"For Kidd?" She guessed kicking someone making an effort to be more than just a burden.

"Precisely." He answered noticing how marines were paying no mind to the bodies' strewn across the ground. "I see that you attempted escape." He hadn't killed many marines and he was the only one who had made it this far and he recognized her killing style. She aimed for major arteries and high impact places, Killer didn't really care how he killed someone as long as he swiftly and efficiently got rid of his enemy. Of course the amount of suffering he wanted his enemy to endure depended solely on his mood and what had made said person his enemy. And hurting Kate was on way to get sent directly to his hit list. If Killer wasn't sure that Kidd was going to take care of that woman then he would have done it himself.

"Key word being attempt. It seems that I'm still quite rusty."

"It appears so little sister. How extensive are your injuries?" Killer asked her, finding room to fit in a bit of conversation.

He felt her shrug and then heard a whimper of pain. "Nothing that will kill me."

"Of course it's nothing that will kill you." Kate was almost like a weed. She kept popping up and coming back no matter what you did to get rid of her. Luckily she didn't multiply the more times one tried to get rid of her. Though Killer didn't think it was weeds that did that . . . maybe dandelions.

"Can I walk now?" She whined as though she were in any condition to walk let alone fight.

"No."

"Why not? I've got one good leg and foot, one good arm and fist and I've got two good knees and elbows. If worse comes to it I'll start biting. And if I get my hands on any weapons then I'll be able to slice and dice or something like that. Pleeeease." She begged.

"No. You wouldn't be able to even stand straight."

"I'm fine oniichan." She kept trying to convince him to put her down but so far it wasn't working.

"No you're not." Was he supposed to believe that for even a single second?

She opened her mouth to argue but managed to twist out of Killers grasp, butted him out of the way using her shoulder before turning her back to the descending blade.

Upon her sword slicing through the pirate's bonds, freeing the girl's wrists the female marine froze unsure of what to do. She had been aiming for the Massacre Soldier's back and for a promotion even. Vasara would have been quite proud of her had she managed to defeat the wanted Supernova and she might have even got herself a devil fruit along with that promotion.

The pirate woman put her hand over her shoulder and rotated the bleeding appendage with a smile as she said, "Thanks for the freedom man."

Killer nearly face palmed. Leave it to Kate to stand there in the middle of a battlefield with many injuries and blood loss to thank the enemy for their mistake. Leave it to her to not immediately start fighting for her life. Now there was no way that they were going to be able to continue their way to the ship at their rapid speed. He let out a growl and swiped at the girl not feeling an ounce of remorse as she fell dead behind him. Grabbing Kate's wrist he growled, "Let's keep moving."

"Alrighty. But I'm ready to collapse in bed." Kate said kicking someone in the face only to literally collapse.

Killer caught her with a heavy sigh. He couldn't leave her on her own in order to cut a path for her and so their progress was more or less halted because she had been freed. Of course with her injuries her speed and agility were both impaired as well as her acrobatics that she loved so much, and so they were more or less stuck in the middle of the courtyard half way between the docks and the execution platform.

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A/N: I've finished writing it so the end is near my friends.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	37. Payback

Kidd shouted the name of his devil fruit proudly before their guns and weapons began shaking in their hands. Grips tightened and marines paused their attacks but neither prevented the metal from being attracted to the gleeful redhead that stood before them. Of their weapons a giant arm was formed.

Kidd had no interest in fighting the petty marines; his target was the woman from the club, the woman who was to blame for taking Kate away and leaving him in a club alone. Oh how he couldn't wait to get to that bitch, to watch the life drain from her body and eyes, to beat the living shit out of her before he actually killed her like he wasn't going to do to Kate when he finished off the marine woman.

He was joyously swinging the metal arm he had created around swatting the weak toy soldiers around like flies. Some gathered up enough courage to shoot at him only for their bullets to burst out from their rifles, slow down and then began hurdling towards them, piercing their own flesh and drawing their own blood. The looks of surprise were quite an amusing sight to behold to be honest.

Kidd wanted to know where the hell the goddamned challenge was!

But challenge or not killing that marine bitch was going to be fun; he was going to extract as much enjoyment out of the act of killing her that he possibly could. It was going to make up for all the slow, painful and sadistic things he couldn't do to hurt and or kill Kate.

It was slow progress gaining ground but when Kidd finally reached the woman who had been coolly surveying the battlefield below her didn't immediately attack her but instead turned to overlook the bloodbath below him. His crew was doing a good job mutilating and dispatching of the marines, which came to no surprise. He repelled all of the metal that had created the metal arm and stood there silently, waiting impatiently for an attack from the woman.

"Don't you look nice Mr. Eustass Captain Kidd." The woman had enough guts to sneer at him. "Did you dress up for the occasion or did you get a wardrobe change?"

Kidd just laughed. Right, he had forgotten that he had just thrown his jacket on over the jeans and black dress shirt. "Not for this occasion I didn't." He had been dressed for Kate, to please her- what a fucking ridiculous idea, one that he wasn't particularly fond of his mind having produced.

"What a shame." She sneered before nonchalantly looking away from the pirate and back down at the carnage below them, at the bloody corpses, some of them even blackened with black smoke rising from their figures. She looked down at all of the marines and civilians who hadn't fled the moment the Kidd pirates had crashed her party.

Kidd looked again, wondering how much of a fight the hopeless woman would put up or if she had eaten a devil fruit and was waiting to play her 'trump' card. That would certainly explain why she was so nonchalant and calm while standing next to him. "It's pretty damn good view you got up here." He could just envision Kate swinging her legs from her place sitting dangerously on the edge, or her gracefully flipping off its edge with a smile. The fuck?! Kidd mentally growled at himself. Why the hell was he thinking about Kate now? He shook his head and with a dangerous chuckle added, "It's a pretty nice place to die don't you think?"

He found it funny how the woman just lifted her chin and coolly said, "It's rather ironic that you'd say such a thing Mr. Eustass Kidd. After all that had been the plan."

"Glad to know you planned on fucking dying from the start." When he said that, the woman slid into a familiar stance but remained silent. Guess they were done talking. The woman was wearing heels, the ones that looked like flats on black knuckles and it appeared that she was going to try and fight in him in those damn things? Even Kate wasn't stupid enough to attempt that. Hell she could hardly walk in heels though she could really use the boost.

To start off easy Kidd aimed a simple, easily evadable punch to her gut, after all he was trying to draw this out and he couldn't make any big cuts and have her bleed in the middle of the process of putting her through hell.

The large pale fist coming for her gut was predictable and easy to read but it gave her a perfect opportunity. She ducked, rolled to the side, landed on one knee slipped off one shoe, broke the heel part off and slipped her fingers through the holes before repeating this and dodging yet another simple and easy attack form the redhead. She didn't understand how he was the top supernova at the moment but really she couldn't care less. Vasara was going to defeat him and the rest of this crew and claim their bounties.

She sprung up and punched him in both the gut and the jaw making the now even more enraged pirate captain curse at her. "Didn't see that coming did you Mr.?" She taunted him with a smirk. Nobody ever suspected the knuckles on her shoes to be anything other than decoration if they even noticed the shape of the heel.

"Fucking bitch." He cursed at her once more but this time with a large grin. "You know I like a woman who can hold their own." It certainly made life a hell of a lot more fun.

"Women like Princess Kate?" She asked. She was trying to tease him, to make him blind with rage so that he was easier to defeat, but the creepy smile on his face only grew as he said,

"Exactly ."

"So that's why you're here? To get back at me?" She rolled her eyes at him, a pirate coming to save his damsel in distress, talk about irony.

"That little whore isn't yours to kill." He growled at the woman. If Kate was going to die it was going to be by his hand, not by the hands of a damn marine. Not only that but Killer would own up to his epithet and massacre him if they didn't save his sister, that or he'd try to save his baby sister himself. "She's mine." He growled.

Kate was his, even if he shared her with his first mate she was no one else's. Not the marines not the emperors and none of her damn ex's could have her back either. She was his to kill and his to love.

"Both of you are wanted criminals. I have every right to kill her." The woman argued as Kidd pulled out the rarely used pistol at shot her, only aiming to injure her, to see how much she could take. He succeeded in shooting her in her forearm making one of the knuckles slip from her fingers.

"My bad." Kidd sneered sarcastically putting the gun back into the waistline of his pants. While he didn't have the holster across his chest like normal it didn't mean that he hadn't thought to arm himself with his usual gun and dagger.

The woman let out an animalistic growl before rushing at him and managing the feat of tackling him to the ground and staying on top as she pressed the remaining knuckles to the side of his neck with a smug smile.

The eyes of the pirate she was unprofessionally straddling widened when he realized that the knuckles weren't just black brass knuckles but instead sea stone. All she had to do now was to keep the contact and to wait for the effects to take effect, for the muscular redhead to become too weak to fight her off.

Kidd's shock didn't last long, after all it was really that surprising that the knuckles were sea stone. It certainly explained why she had been so calm about facing him. But it was only sea stone and even though he could feel his strength draining it wasn't gone yet. Reaching up Kidd wrapped one of his hands around her throat with enough difficulty to piss him off and then grabbed the wrist of the hand that was pressing the knuckles to his throat and with little difficulty broke it before summoning the rest of his nearly drained strength and rolled over, slamming her throat down onto the platform an pinning her hand above her head.

After prying the knuckles out of her hand he tossed them behind him and stood. "Got any other tricks?" He sneered at her. On her face was the expression that he loved seeing the most, the look of determined hopelessness and pain in his victim's eyes. He loved the knowledge that she was going to fight him with every fiber in her body until her very end, even though she knew that she was trapped and defenseless with both arms impaired in some way.

As she struggled to her feet he noticed a necklace around her throat with a rather sharp looking cross pendant. He watched her dash over to one of the already dead marines on the platform and pick up one of their rifles.

That's my Kate. Kidd thought with an embarrassing twinge of pride when he realized that she had more than likely taken care of them.

The pirate spread his arms wide and said with a laugh, "Go ahead, shoot." The way he said it, the confident fashion in which he said those words made Vasara hesitate just enough to give him the time he needed to attack. When she saw him coming she pulled the trigger, aiming for the place between his eyes, or anywhere that would hurt or disable him really. She knew that if he got his hands on her she was as good as dead and like any normal person she did not want to die.

Kidd let it get close, allowed her to think that she had won for a few seconds before slowing down the bullet and when the metal lightly touched the space between his eyes he repelled it back towards her, enjoying the shock and pain on her face as it lodged itself in one of her lungs. As she coughed up globs of blood Kidd lifted her off the ground by her necklace and while she was suspended inches off the ground he dug the pendant into her skin and slowly slid it across her throat, leaving a gash across her neck that leaked crimson that crept down her chest and stained her dress shirt.

He knew that she's bleed out soon or drown in her own blood so the weapons that he had dropped earlier were attracted to him. He pointed them at her and then repelled them, enjoying her screams as he released his hold on her necklace only for the weapons to slide into all parts of her body. She lay on the ground, not moving an inch. Her breathing was hardly visible and her eyes stared up at him.

Her blood pooled around her and seeped through the cracks of the platform and he could see the life literally draining from her eyes and it wasn't until her eyes glazed over did Kidd jump down from the platform, feeling rather satisfied with himself.

Making his way to where his first mate and Kate were Kidd spared no one, not civilian nor woman. Hell he hardly saw the people he was slaughtering.

Kate felt him approach before she saw him in the midst of a kick. "About time." Was the first thing she said to him. Killer needed their captain's help since she was in such a bad state and they had yet to find time to pause and bandage her, to stop the bleeding. Killer was just everywhere trying his best to protest her as she slowed down more and more, as she continuously collapsed from actually using her injured leg or as she tripped over her own feet- that was happening more and more.

She was trying so hard to remain on her feet, to push away the spots that kept invading her vision and the waves of dizziness that kept crashing in. She was trying so hard to help her brother if only just a bit. When Kidd showed up, when he was done taking his revenge she had let out a breath of relief, now they'd be ok.

At least for now. When they made it back to the ship Kate knew that she was totally dead but more than anything in the world she wanted to return to the ship, to collapse into her and Killer's bed and then face later after she had rested up. But for now she'd continue with the cheap throat and groin shots that she had been throwing for a while now.

"Kate." Kidd's voice reached her ears through the slowly building haze. Even though Kate wasn't in the best of conditions, even though she was covered in blood, even though she was bleeding profusely and breathing heavily Kidd couldn't help but to think that she looked pretty damn sexy as she occasionally took down a marine. She struck them down indiscriminately just like Killer and the rest of the crew. And again he felt an annoying twinge of pride.

When she turned towards him he gestured for her to come over to him and surprisingly enough after dodging a few attacks, hoping over a few dead bodies she stumbled to a stop before him with a nervous smile and a not so perky, "Yes captain?"

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A/N: One or two at best chapters remains.

Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.


	38. the final chapter :D

Really quick A/ N: I really want to apologize for all of the people who put up with this unusually long wait for this rather short chapter.

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Kidd shrugged off his jacket and said, "Keep this safe for me." And without her agreement he put his jacket across her slender shoulders. Almost instantly she slipped her arms into the sleeves and smiled up at him.

"Tell me you love me." Kate demanded unsure if the potion had worn off or not. If Kidd punched her into next moth then he was back to normal but if he did anything else then it was still in effect. The only reason Kate was confused was because of the way he was massacring everyone and the way he had murdered Vasara only to turn around and return his precious jacket to her in the midst of a battlefield.

His eyes narrowed and she flinched when his fist came at her. Nervously Kate opened one eye when it didn't hit her anywhere on her body. "What the fuck makes you think that I love you?" Kidd growled at her.

"Because you told me so." Kate instantly responded as Kidd grabbed her shoulders and turned her around, to face the ship, muttering about how they were still trying to move forwards and how they weren't supposed to be standing still.

"Maybe i did when I was poisoned." Kidd retorted. He didn't want her to get any ideas and he wanted her to know that during their wait for her last night Killer had told him why he had been acting and thinking so strangely.

It was explained to him why he had been possessed to do any of the things he had done during that last week. And he remembered all of the things he had done, all of the talking and hand holding, the snuggling and the 'I love you's' they had exchanged as well as the sex they had had and all of Kate's smiles. He remembered doing and saying it all and now he knew why.

"I-It was for a good reason." Kate said her eyes widening in what Kidd smugly assumed was shock and fear. It was nice to know that he still had that effect on her. "Just let me hear it one more time before you beat me into a bloody pulp." She pleaded looking up at him with wide aquamarine eyes.

Kidd quietly growled. Glad that those watery eyes weren't about to work on him. He shoved her out of the way of an annoyingly brave marine before saying, "You're already a bloody pulp." And it was true. Her white half shirt was drenched from her right shoulder and there were other smaller lacerations and already forming bruises littering her body.

But those weren't that concerning.

No the concerning thing was how her knees had buckled under the weight of his jacket before she had caught herself. They gained a few good strides towards his ship after he killed a few marines and tossed one into a group of marines hoping for a surprise attack. Their numbers were dwindling greatly, most had either decided to run by now, were playing opossum or were actually dead.

"Hey." Kate protested.

"It's true."

"So . . . you know?" It was kind of obvious but she wanted to be one hundred percent sure. If Kidd knew she minds well kick the bucket and die happy while she still could.

"Damn straight I do." Killer had reminded him that the threat he had made against him was not a threat but a promise. Killer was going to protect his baby sister and more or less betray him if he killed Kate.

"Will you please tell me you love me so that I can die happy?"

"You're not going to fucking die." Kidd grumbled at her.

"Oh and what makes you say that?" Kate challenged knocking over a marine that was trying to struggle back up to his feet before leaping over his body. Kidd just stepped on it with a satisfying crack.

"Because you're not dying by anyone else's hand but mine."

Kate looked over her shoulder at him and smiled before saying, "Good because I'm not going to let myself be killed by anyone other than you."

"Kate, you're not dying and Kidd isn't killing you. Now can we get moving?" Killer asked in an exasperated voice. Dear god they were trying to get across the island but they wouldn't make it before tomorrow came if they didn't stop moving slower than snails.

"No." Kate stomped her foot like a little brat and neither Kidd nor Killer felt bad when she winced when the pain registered. "Not until Kidd tells me he loves me."

Killer shot her an unseen look and said, "This is not the time or place for this."

"Better now than later oniichan. You keep doing your thing Killer and we'll keep doing ours." Kate said attacking a marine.

Only for Killer to grab the back of Kidd's jacket and pull her out of the range if his weapon. "Don't forget that we're on a battlefield and that we are all wanted criminals with large bounties and your condition is worsening."

"Pah-lease. Blood loss won't be the end of me." Kate declared knowing that's the 'condition' that Killer was referring to.

"It will be if you keep losing blood." Kidd said scooping up the stumbling like a drunk blonde up in his arms. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

With that order Killer began cutting a path for his captain through the dwindling marines. Maybe they knew it was fruitless to try and stop them or maybe they were now just on auto pilot and were fighting simply they didn't know what else to do.

"Will you really not say that you love me?" Kate pouted in a small voice with wider than usual eyes. "I mean I know you do. Why else would you not be taking every opportunity that you could get- including now- to rid yourself of me?"

"You want to know something?" Kidd inquired, looking down at the small woman in his arms. He liked how she wasn't kicking or screaming to be put down- chances were that he'd do exactly that and drop her before continuing on- and he liked how she fit perfectly in his arms.

"Sure, shoot. But you had better say that you love me." Kate was dead set on hearing those three words come from Kidd's mouth. She wanted the whole package, the cursing and the sneering expression and sarcastic tones. She wanted to hear it coming from his usual self, the usual more violent and mean Kidd.

"You know you look sexier now than you've ever looked." Kidd told Kate knowing full well that it wasn't the I love you she was searching for.

But he had spoken the truth. He had seen her look quite enticing and appealing quite a few times but none of those times compared to the bloody mess he now carried in his arms. And as much as he had liked that short revealing little corset thing and as much as he had thoroughly enjoyed Kate bound beneath him, there was nothing sexier, more desirable than a woman that could hold their own, that could kick ass and liked doing so.

And the girl in his arms had done exactly that, she hadn't held back at all.

Even with the gashes in her shoulder and in her leg, she still hadn't stopped fighting even though she was slowing down and she hadn't given up. The only reason she wasn't still stumbling around right this moment was because he wasn't allowing her to do so. But it wasn't as though she were complaining.

A frown pulled down the pout of Kate's mouth turning it into a frown. "Just tell me you love me captain." She whined then added, "If I die now I want to die happy, come on don't rob me of a happy death."

"You're not dying." He growled down at her with a frown. Hadn't they already been over this? If she were to die it would be by his hand?

"You're so sweet Kidd. But I have lost a lot of blood and you can die of that you know." Of course she'd try to use that as a reason. Of course she'd try twisting it and using it for her argument when she needed it to work for, not against her.

"I'm aware. But the only thing you're about to lose is consciousness." They began walking through the nearly deserted village, the ship getting nearer and nearer.

"I know! Just say it already! Can't you even do that?" Her impatience made Kidd smile. Even bloody and half dead to the world Kate was still herself. He couldn't help but laugh at her as she glared up at him so viciously. "Hey, don't laugh at me."

Kidd bent down over her and with a smirk decided to give into Kate just this once, so that he could see her shock or whatever reaction she might have. "Fine, you win. I love you Kate."

"Finally!" She exclaimed throwing her arms before repeating the word. "Finally! But just so you know there's no 'this is what you get because I can't kill you' sex for you now." She declared as the gangplank was lowered and Kidd stepped onto it.

"Oh really?" he asked in a tone that suggested otherwise, that said the in the end he'd have his way.

"Yes." She was going to be firm about this; rather she'd try to be at least. At the moment she was totally at his mercy which was a conflictingly comforting and worrisome thought.

"So you think you're going to fucking get off scot-free for poisoning me." Kidd said. The statement wasn't much of a question. He couldn't kill her- it would make coming to save her sorry ass again a waste of time- and if he decided to punish her in any way shape or form at the moment she'd be out in one hit which wouldn't be satisfying in the least.

"Well I-I was hoping to." Kate whispered shrinking down in his arms as though she were trying to hide.

"Well too damn bad." Kidd said with a large none too kind smile. Of course he'd let her get bandaged up and have a good day or so of rest but she had another thing coming if the little bitch thought that he wasn't going to get his revenge for having poisoned him and making him do and say all of those wretched things.

There was hell to pay for it and she'd be paying alright. He might not kill her but he'd make sure that Kate never tried to pull a stunt like that ever again.

Surprisingly enough despite his threat and the eager to bring down a small portion of his terrifying wrath down upon her, Kate reached up giving him a half hug type of thing and lifted herself up so that her face was close to his and said, "I love you too." Before planting a half smile, half kiss on his dark lips.

It was good to have the real Kidd back.

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Thoughts? Opinions? Feedback?

All three greatly appreciated.

A/N: I saved this for last! I really dislike reading these things at the beginning of every chapter; they annoy me for some reason. So that's why I saved it for last plus some people need to get a bit of a special thanks.

I got bored with Kate and Kidd but I wanted to move on and start new things, new characters. So I apologize for that. I hope that the ending wasn't too abrupt or too loosely tied up (though I know I can't please everyone)

First of all I'd like to thank all of my reviewers, I love you all . As well as all of the people who put up with the unusually long wait for this rather short chapter. I really cannot thank you enough for your wonderful reviews but I want to give a special thanks to a few certain people who have definitely helped encourage me and helped me write with this fic.

ISevenSins- if you scroll down after all the thanks there will be a link to some fan art! So I want to thank SevenSins for that! And for helping me with the story- the writing on Kidd idea and the answers to the questions helped me a lot.

Girl-Luvs-manga- thanks for everything, for some ideas and just everything that you've helped with. Like your many reviews and just everything. (I know I just said that)

I also want to thank Hitoshirezu Ryu for their awesome reviews and help as well.

And finally I'd like to thank you all for even reading my fic.

Just a suggestion, you should check out their stuff. . .

And now for the link to that fan art. . .

I think you have to copy and paste it . . . idk if it will work by just clicking on it.

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